Leona Maguire 'headed in the right direction' after up and down year so far

The Cavan native says she feels she has momentum going into the summer. 

Leona Maguire, of Ireland, fist bumps with her caddie. Pic: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

Leona Maguire feels her game is headed in the right direction as she continues her journey through the 2024 season following a disappointing weekend at last week’s KPMG PGA Championship in the United States.

The 29-year-old from Cavan, with an LPGA Tour victory in each of her last two seasons, has a second-place finish behind world number one Nelly Korda as her best finish this year, at the T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas in April. She was in contention heading at the halfway stage of last week’s major at Sahalee Country Club in Washington State but fell from a tie for sixth to T24 after the final two rounds as Korea’s Amy Yang claimed the title for her maiden major victory.

Now Maguire is turning her attention to a busy summer, with the The Amundi Evian Championship, a third Olympics appearance and the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews fast approaching before a return to Ireland for this season’s KPMG Women’s Irish Open at a new venue of Carton House in Co. Kildare this August 29-September 1.

Speaking at Carton House on Friday during the official media day for the Ladies European Tour event she has fronted since its return to the schedule in 2022, Maguire said: “It’s been a bit of an up and down season, made a few changes, tried to tweak a few things, hasn’t quite worked consistently yet.

“Obviously Vegas was a highlight, really played great there and then last week, played some really great golf. Sahalee last week was probably the narrowest course we’ve ever played, a lot of overhangs, but I drove the ball great, hit quite a few fairways and there really was not much margin for error.

“I feel like I’ve got some good momentum heading into the summer from last week and it’s a long year. It started the second week of January and we’re going to go to the second week of December. It’s a long year so you’re going to have to be patient, you’re not going to play incredible golf for the entire year so it’s a case of building and building and the goal is always to play as well as we can in the summer, so I feel like we’re headed in the right direction now.” 

As the KPMG Women’s Irish Open’s figurehead since its reincarnation at Dromoland Castle two years ago, Maguire has had to factor in the extra demands on her time during tournament week and has made sure to play practice rounds at Carton House’s O’Meara course at every opportunity to get as much preparation in ahead of the event.

“I’ve played a few times here this year when I’ve been home. I’ve tried to get 18 holes in, nine holes in here and there, because by the time the Irish Open rolls around it’s going to be in the middle of a very hectic stretch for me.

“It’s going to be Olympics, Scottish, British, Irish Open for me so on week four of a very busy run so come that week I’ll have a lot of obligations and things to do and it will be a case of having the prep already done by the time that rolls around.

“For me an Irish Open is a little bit of a bonus week, it’s a bit more about giving back. Yes, I’d like to play as well as I possibly can but it’s nice to see so many people, the pictures and autographs and genuinely happy to see me do well. I suppose I get a taste of what some of the American girls get every week.

“We’ve had fantastic crowds down at Dromoland over the last couple of years and hopefully this year will be just as good if not better.” 

Maguire said she was delighted to have her Solheim Cup playing partner Georgia Hall in the field for Carton House late this summer.

“She’ll be on Team GB at the Olympics, I’ve played two Solheim Cups with Georgia, played fourballs with Georgia. We make a good pairing, two points out of two, which is a pretty good record.

“Yeah, that’s a testament to the event that we’ve got a stronger field every year and ultimately that’s the goal. You want to be on the best golf courses with the best fields playing for the biggest purses so hopefully we can continue to build on that year on year.”