Nearly one month, Leona Maguire became the LPGA’s newest Rolex First-Time Winner when she won the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony to become the Tour’s first winner from Ireland. She was roundly celebrated across her home country, even appearing on the Late Late Show, Ireland’s Tonight Show-style late-night show.
Now it’s back to work. And after several weeks at home, Maguire’s first experience in Singapore could not be more different than her surrounding back in County Cavan.
“It's obviously never this hot in Ireland,” said Maguire after her first-round 2-under 70. “Before I came over here, did some sort of sauna work and stuff like that to prepare for it.”
Maguire’s round on Thursday featured four birdies and two bogeys, nothing to be upset about but nothing that made her overly excited either. Maguire said she didn’t have much momentum on Thursday, but in her debut performance at the HSBC Women’s World Championship, she knows there still much more to come.
“Obviously the best players in the world are here, which is always great getting to play events with all the girls in the season,” said Maguire. “There's still a lot of golf to be played. So I feel like I haven't played my best golf yet, so it's nice to shoot under par even though I wasn't quite at my best.”
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