ANDALUCIA, Spain — No one played better at the 2021 Solheim Cup than Leona Maguire. The then-rookie blitzed the American team that week in Toledo, Ohio, putting up a superstar 4-0-1 performance that saw her emerge as the unspoken MVP for the winning European team.
It was the first time that a player from Ireland had ever teed it up in the biennial team competition and the Cavan native showed up and out for her fellow Euros, helping propel them to their second consecutive Solheim Cup victory. Reflecting on that week two years ago, the 28-year-old knows how special it was to go undefeated in her first Solheim Cup appearance and will certainly try to recreate some of that magic this week at Finca Cortesin in Andalucia, Spain.
But Maguire also knows that bygones are bygones and that all anyone will focus on now is her record at the end of the week, especially considering the Europeans are playing on home soil.
“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,” said Maguire, who qualified for this year’s team via her position in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings. “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. 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.”
Arguably, it was the 2021 Solheim Cup that jumpstarted Maguire’s LPGA Tour career.
She first earned LPGA Membership for the 2020 season via her seventh-place finish in the 2019 Race for the Card on the Epson Tour. Maguire earned one top-10 result as a rookie, a T4 at the ISPS Handa Vic Open. Before the Solheim Cup the next year, she finished in the top 10 five times, including a pair of runner-ups at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei and Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. After her thrilling play in Ohio, Maguire finished in a tie for 12th later that season at the CME Group Tour Championship, her last top 15 of what was an incredibly successful 2021.
The calendar turned quickly to 2022 and Maguire’s momentum never slowed as she captured her first LPGA Tour victory in just her second start of the year, becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony in Fort Myers, Fla. She earned seven more top-10 results throughout the season, the most notable of which were a tie for eighth at the U.S. Women’s Open, a tie for fourth at the AIG Women’s Open and a solo second at the CME Group Tour Championship. So far this season, Maguire has picked up her second career title at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give and has finished in the top 10 four additional times, solidifying her place as one of the LPGA Tour’s top talents.
While all that success has put plenty of food on her table, Maguire knows that everything goes out the window when the Solheim Cup is involved and that it doesn’t matter how strong your form is in stroke-play events when it comes to preparing for match play. All that matters is your ability to score and score quickly and your aptitude for playing alongside a teammate.
Add in a venue like Finca Cortesin that features plenty of hilly terrain, and you’ve got a venue that will also require an incredible amount of mental and physical stamina, something that Maguire feels like every player will need to build a strategy around in order to maintain their energy for competition days.
With a win under her belt in the 2023 LPGA season and four additional top-10 finishes, @leona_maguire looks to sweep the competition as she represents @SolheimCupEuro 🏆 pic.twitter.com/cP6OTep2Ea
— LPGA (@LPGA) September 16, 2023
“It's nice that there’s good weather, so no umbrellas and no extra waterproofs and everything,” said Maguire. “But it's going to be just as much of a physical test this week as a mental test. Managing energy is going to be big. We have a lot of practice, a lot of media, a lot of things this week, a lot of dinners, so managing energy throughout the week is going to be key to make sure we still have plenty in the tank for Sunday.”
It will be interesting to see exactly where the Euros stand come Sunday as they’ve been widely lauded as the favorites this week in Spain. Not only are they competing on home soil, something that is often an advantage for the home team, but Captain Suzann Pettersen has openly said that she thinks this year’s squad may be one of their strongest, most well-rounded yet, a strong statement that will require backing up starting on Friday.
All those expectations could make a less stoic, even-keeled player quake in their boots a bit, nervous about Sunday’s final result. But Maguire, as she often does, is taking a veteran’s mindset this week in Spain, putting her head down and going to work as Europe battles for their third consecutive Solheim Cup victory over the weekend.
“We're going to try our best. It's all we can do,” Maguire said. “I think me and Celine (Boutier, with whom Maguire shared her pre-tournament press conference) like to just stick to our own routines. We're pretty quiet and just go about our business very quietly and very efficiently, same way as we do for any other week, any other major or big tournament.
“We'll have hopefully a lot of people cheering us on and hoping we do well and then try and do as best we can. 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.”
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