'Team player' Maguire helps salvage brutal Solheim week

'I think I proved today there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I think I made plenty of birdies today,' said Leona Maguire.

HARD DONE BY? Europe's Leona Maguire hits from the third tee during the Solheim Cup. Pic: Chris Szagola/AP

It wasn’t enough to help Europe win its fourth straight Solheim Cup, but it was a much-needed result for Ireland’s Leona Maguire to salvage what proved to be a brutal week for one of architects of Europe’s recent success in the biennial event.

Sent out in the penultimate of the 12 singles matches on Sunday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, Maguire did all she could in a decisive 4&3 drubbing of American Ally Ewing. 

The point kept Europe’s faint hopes of rallying from a 10-6 deficit alive, but the U.S. walked away with a 15½-12½ victory – its first since 2017.

Maguire, who was not a factor in her lone four-balls match on Friday afternoon, never trailed Ewing, breaking away from a tie through seven holes with birdies to win 8, 9 and 13 and closing it out with a par on 14. 

It was Maguire’s third straight decisive singles victory in three Solheim Cups, having beaten Rose Zhang 4&3 last year in Spain and Jennifer Kupcho 5&4 in 2019 in Ohio.

It was a redemptive tonic after getting benched in three of the four team sessions and buried deep in the singles lineup by European captain Suzann Pettersen after coming into the week with the best record of anyone on Europe’s team, 7-2-1, having played in every session of her first two team appearances.

“Yeah, I felt like I played great golf today,” Maguire said. “I feel like I’ve been playing really great golf all week in practice, and it was a bitter pill to swallow to be sat out for as many sessions as I was, but I thought I got a point to prove today. 

"And I love the Solheim Cup, I love match play, and I really wanted to deliver a point for the team today, and nice to do that.” 

Pettersen sat Maguire out all day on Saturday as the Euros were unable to make a dent in Team USA’s historic four-point lead (6-2) after the opening-day matches.

“It’s always hard to sit great, great players, but where we sit we have to play the ones that are really playing well this week,” Pettersen said of Maguire’s benching in both the foursomes and four-balls on Saturday. 

Maguire lost for the first time in four-balls on Friday with Georgia Hall, 6&4 to the red-hot team of Nelly Korda and Megan Khang.

“I mean, Leona, she’s going to be 100 percent tomorrow and she’s all about the team, so I mean, she’s a great teammate. Understands and she’s allowed to be disappointed. At the same time she has to believe in what the team is doing, and she’s going to be out here showing her face.” 

Maguire disappointment, what she called “captain’s decision” was apparent on Sunday, and she did the only thing she could do and win her point as Europe claimed its first session win of the week, 6½-5½, in the singles.

“She didn’t give much reason, to be honest,” Maguire said of Pettersen’s motives for sitting her down in three of four team sessions. 

“The feeling I got was that I was a little bit too short and didn’t make enough birdies, but I think I proved today there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I think I made plenty of birdies today.

“Captain’s decision. I’m a team player, and all I could do today was come out and win my point, and that’s what I did.

“Yeah, it’s Solheim Cup. I don’t need any extra motivation to go out and try to win my point, but yeah, there probably was a little bit extra there, not going to lie. But, ultimately, it’s what’s best for the team this week, and I would have loved the opportunity to try and deliver more points for the team, but I did what I could today.”