She has not finished outside the top 15 in her last seven starts on the LPGA Tour. For Leona Maguire, that includes a career-best finish in a major, a tie for sixth at the Amundi Evian Championship in July.
Throw in a multitude of team appearances as an amateur between the Curtis Cup, Junior Solheim Cup, Espirito Santo Trophy, Junior Ryder Cup and Vagliano Trophy, and Maguire doesn’t seem like an ordinary Solheim Cup rookie.
“This is something I’ve looked forward to for a long time,” said Maguire, a 2019 Symetra Tour graduate. “Got a little glimpse of it when I played Junior Solheims and really good to be part of the big team now. I think there will be a lot of good memories this week. Hopefully some will be on the golf course. But I think a lot of them will be off the golf course, too.”
Twice a member of the victorious Great Britain and Ireland team for the Curtis Cup (2012, 2016), the 2017 British Open Amateur Championship winner and a 10-time medalist for Duke University, Maguire has a plethora of meaningful match-play experience.
That also includes seven collegiate tournaments — three NCAA Championships among them — with a combined 6-6-1 record for the Blue Devils.
It’s a resume that has captured the attention of Team Europe veteran Mel Reid, and one she witnessed in person at Inverness Club during Thursday’s practice rounds.
“I played with Leona today. Fantastic player. Honestly haven’t spent much time with her,” said Reid, a four-time member of Team Europe in the Solheim Cup. “You know what Tour life is like. If you don’t get paired with them, you can kind of miss people. I’ve been keeping an eye on Leona because she had a fantastic amateur career. She has obviously progressed as we all expected and played fantastic golf this year. She’s a great player.
“The [four Team Europe] rookies are fearless. They’re not like rookies when I first played Solheim Cups that were just playing the Ladies European Tour. Not discrediting that at all, but [now] they are playing against the American girls week in and week out, and they’re just not scared. That’s what you want.”
Making her first Solheim Cup team is one thing, and to add to it, Maguire is the first woman from Ireland to land a spot on Team Europe for the biennial team competition.
“A huge honour,” Maguire said. “I think it’s something I’ll probably not dwell on too much right now, but will look back in 20, 30 years when I’m done playing and realize how special it was.
“Hopefully inspires more young girls in Ireland to take up the game, realize if they believe in themselves and work hard that anything is possible. Hopefully we’ll have many, many more Irish girls on the team in the future.”
