MAGUIRE LOOKING FORWARD TO FIRST SOLHEIM CUP ON EUROPEAN SOIL

Leona Maguire put on a show when she made her Solheim Cup debut last time out in Toledo going undefeated.

The Irishwoman earned 4.5 points out of a possible five and threw the gauntlet down as a player who was to be feared.

Since then, she has secured two victories on the LPGA Tour and is ready to compete in her second Solheim Cup.

But with it being her first on European soil, Maguire is excited to experience the home support that she missed out on last time.

“I’m really excited,” she said. “There was quite a lot of Irish people heading over on my flight, even on Sunday, and then today there was quite a few tricolors out there, a few people dressed up already today, which is pretty impressive for a Tuesday.

“I’m really excited and nice to have the fans cheering along and everybody so excited for us to be here. Hopefully, we can give them some things to cheer about.

“It almost feels a little bit like a rookie again playing on home soil. This is all still a new experience for me, so just try and enjoy the week as much as I can and feed off the energy of the crowd as much as I can.”

Finca Cortesin provides a testing challenge as Europe look to go for their third Solheim Cup in a row.

And having played a few practice rounds and got used to the course, the two-time LPGA Tour winner knows it’ll provide an entertaining few days.  

She explained: “It’s really good. I played 18 this morning. Nice to see them all. There’s some really good variety. I think the par-3s are really strong.

“It’s just an exciting first hole to start off with, with the percentage for people driving the green. The greens are tricky. They’re pretty slopey in places. They’re getting faster, they’re grainy, so I think with any Solheim Cup, putting will be the key this week.”

Having played so well in 2021, expectations must be high for Maguire to follow that up with another great performance.

But the Solheim Cup winner, who became the first Irishwoman to play in the contest, knows not to underestimate the opposition and is going with her normal process.

She added: “Obviously, last time went about as well as it possibly could have, but it’s a brand-new event this time.

“It’s a brand-new venue, a brand-new team, both on the Europe and the U.S. side. I think the U.S. have a fantastic team this time. I think they have a young team that’s ready to go. 

“Ultimately, I’ll try and win as many points as I can, but we’ll just prepare as well as we can and go in with very little expectations like the last time, the same way as I approach any other event. Just because it’s worked well in the past doesn’t really make much difference for this time.”

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