Leona Maguire was thrilled to ascertain her off-season work
pay-off and obtain a
congratulatory text from Solheim Cup skipper Catriona Matthew after she secured
her first top 10 on US soil within
the LPGA Drive On Championship in Florida.
The Slieve Russell star, 26, tied for sixth behind Austin Ernst at Golden Ocala
Golf & Equestrian Club to
maneuver to 14th within
the Race to CME Globe Points list, second within the Rookie of the Year
race and up 39 places to a career-high of 128th within the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings.
The Co Cavan star changed to graphite shafts in her irons during her short
winter break and put a
replacement driver into her bag and after following a tie for
16th within the Gainbridge
LPGA together with her first
top-10 since last year’s Vic Open in Australia, she’s upbeat about contending
for that elusive first LPGA Tour win in what's an important Olympic Games and Solheim Cup year.
“It’s nice to urge off
to an honest start to
the year,” Maguire said from her Lake Nona base in Orlando where pre-season
practice rounds with the guy Lake
Nona members Annika Sorenstam, Nasa Hatoaka, Anne Van Dam and Lindy Duncan
helped her chip away at the
winter rust.
“It’s always good to hit the
bottom running and nice to ascertain the changes I made within the off-season paying off so quickly. It doesn’t
always happen so it’s nice they're making
a difference already.”
The new KBS graphite shafts in her PING i210 irons have helped her hit the ball
higher into firm greens and she’s also picked up nearly 20 yards off the
tee because of the new
PING G425 driver.
“The little bit of extra
length has definitely helped,” she said after averaging nearly 253 yards off
the tee last week and making 13 birdies at the 16 par fives.
“I was probably hitting it an
additional 20 yards and once I played with Nelly Korda yesterday i used to be only about 10 yards
behind her so that’s another advantage.
I played the par fives rather
well in the week and was ready to hit a
couple of of them in two which made an enormous difference.
“The new irons with the new shafts are going higher and landing softer and with
the new Bermuda greens last week incredibly firm in windy conditions there was
a premium on hitting good irons and that’s something I did quite well.”
She has fortnight off
before heading to the West
Coast but while she’s already within the field for the primary Major of the year, the ANA Inspiration from April
1-4, she’s looking to press
on and secure her place within the US Women’s Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco from June 3-7.
“The top-10 not already exempt within
the Race to CME Globe on Pan American Day get in and that i just omitted that
way last year by one spot so if I can do this i will be able to avoid a qualifier,” she said.
“There is additionally a
world ranking stop (top
75 on Pan American Day and
should 17) but i will
be able to not look too deeply into that until closer to the date.”
Winning on the road is that
the goal but to
urge there she’s simply concentrating on putting herself in
contention.
“The goal is to undertake and
put myself in as many positions like that as I can,” she added. “The difference
from last year is that I finished strong over the weekends but didn’t get off
to nearly as good a
start in events as i might have
liked. Whereas this year I even
have started the
primary two days tons better
and that’s just gaining experience and getting wont to the courses and the way things work and having a touch more control over my
irons has definitely helped.”
Making the ecu Solheim
Cup team will depend upon her
results and she or he was
happy to receive a text from the captain on Sunday.
“I got a text last night,” she said. “I played with Catriona within the summer in North
Berwick and she or he has
her hands full with everything that’s happening but it
had been nice to
urge her text. She said she’d be at the ANA so we'll catch up there.”
The European team will comprise the
highest 2 in LET Points, the highest 4 on the Rolex Women’s World Rankings and 6 captains picks.
Maguire knows it'll take
good golf to become a part
of the Solheim Cup conversation, as she said in January.
“The Solheim Cup may be a bit
out of my control, but the
higher I do, the
higher chance I even
have ,” Leona admitted at the beginning of the year. “I need to specialise in doing that also as I possibly can and if I
catch her I catch her eye and if not, we return for 2 years' time.
“There’s many golf to
be played between now then ,
but we'll see how it goes.
“It's no different to the lads trying to qualify for the Ryder Cup. i'm sure it is a big thing for Shane
[Lowry] this year, but he's got quite few
wins and a serious under
his belt quite I do.
“So i want to require care
of that first, then I
suppose things like Solheim Cup will take care of themselves.”
As for the news that the under
attack Davy Group has paused its sponsorship programmes, including
her affect the
stockbrokers, Maguire and her agent at Modest Golf! Management had no comment.
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