Playoff heartbreak for Maguire as Kupcho takes Meijer LPGA Classic in sudden-death

Mere months after the Cavan girl made history by becoming the first Irish golfer ever to win an LPGA title, she came from way back and almost repeated the feat

Mon, 20 Jun, 2022 - 08:47

Joe Callaghan

Leona Maguire suffered sudden-death agony in Michigan on Sunday night as she was beaten by American Jennifer Kupcho on the second playoff hole at the Meijer LPGA Classic.

Mere months after the Cavan native made history by becoming the first Irish golfer ever to win an LPGA title, she came from way back and almost repeated the feat.

Maguire shot a blistering seven-under 65 at Blythefield County Club on the outskirts of Grand Rapids. That score was good enough for Maguire to set the Sunday clubhouse lead at -18 and watch as the final groupings tried to match her mark.

As it turned out, there were two who could — longtime final-round leader Kupcho and fellow American Nelly Korda, the world No.2.

With the tension in Michigan matching that on the men's side at the US Open in Brookline, a three-way playoff was needed. But it looked as though it would be over as soon as it began when world No.16 Kupcho hit a stunning second into the 18th to leave herself with an eagle putt from no more than a couple of feet.

Remarkably, she missed and with Korda only able to make par, Maguire's two-putt birdie from 30 feet was good enough to force things to a second playoff hole where it was now a two-horse race.

Maguire found a little trouble off the tee before a stellar second gave her hope again. However it was now Maguire's turn to three-putt from distance and Kupcho birdied to claim glory.

“I thought she was going to make it,” said Kupcho. “When she hit it by the hole and I still had to putt from the fringe I thought to myself, that's not a gimme because I was just shaking and missed essentially a same-length putt. But then once I made the tap-in, I was already looking at the rules official to go to the next hole. Honestly, it was just a shock. She went to Duke, I went to Wake Forest. Playing with her so much, she doesn't miss putts. I was really just shocked.”

While it was a bitter way to lose, Maguire can take huge heart — and a cheque for $196,847 — from another remarkably spirited Sunday performance, just four months after her historic victory at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

Maguire started the day seven back but had racked up four birdies in her first six holes with just one bogey blotting the card before adding four more on the back nine to put herself into the clubhouse lead in the first place.

That display gives her huge momentum going into next week's third major of the women's golf season, the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in Maryland. Maguire is also likely to again rise significantly in the world rankings from her current position of 25th thanks to this runners-up finish.