Near-miss at PGA gives Leona Maguire confidence ahead of Women's Open

Maguire is returning to a tournament this week in which she secured her best finish in a major championship last year, a tie for fourth behind South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai at Muirfield

RELAXED: Ireland's Leona Maguire addresses a press conference ahead of the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath Golf Club. Pic: Warren Little/Getty Images

Leona Maguire is confident she has learned the lessons of her PGA Championship near-miss earlier this summer ahead of Thursday’s AIG Women’s Open first round at England’s Walton Heath.

The world number 13 from Cavan had been on course for back-to-back LPGA Tour victories following her Meijer LPGA Classic win in June when went into the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship as leader at Baltusrol in New Jersey, only to shoot a closing 74 and finish tied for 11th, four shots behind winner Ruoning Yin of China.