Leona Maguire with Mrs Carmel Callan, wife of the Irish ambassador to Australia and Harriet Sexton-Morel, Second Secretary at the ActewAGL Canberra Classic welcome reception.
Leona Maguire made an encouraging start to her season as a rookie professional on the Ladies European Tour with a tie for 20th place in the Australian Ladies Classic – Bonville, but feels that she can do better in the ActewAGL Canberra Classic at Royal Canberra this weekend.
The 24-year-old from County Cavan, who slipped down the leader board with a final-round 75, said: “I was happy enough with last week but I would have liked to have finished better on the last day. I got myself into a nice position after the third day. It was a decent start and now I’m looking forward to kicking on.”
Maguire partnered the defending champion Jiyai Shin in a long drive and nearest the pin shootout on Tuesday and the pair last played together during a practise round at the 2012 Women’s British Open at Royal Liverpool, also known as Hoylake, where Shin dominated the field in tough conditions to win by a nine stroke margin.
Seven years later, Maguire is hoping to claim a title of her own in Canberra. After playing a practise round, she said: “It seems like a really nice course with a mixture of tight holes and some which are a little bit wider. The greens are rolling really nice. I struggled a bit with reading the greens and getting the pace last week. I think these greens are going to be rolling fast and well, so I’m looking forward to it. I’d say there’ll be a premium on hitting good iron shots and staying below the pin because there will be some really quick putts out there.
“It’s hard to believe it’s my fourth week here in Australia. It seems to have flown by. I’ve really enjoyed it. I’m glad I managed to see a few kangaroos on Emerald Beach and now a few more on the course here.”
Maguire tees off at 8.14am local time on Friday in the company of Madelene Sagstrom and Whitney Hillier.
