When Maguire and her European teammates head to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, they will be aiming for a Solheim Cup first. No side has ever held the trophy for four successive editions.
When it comes to wearing the blue and gold of the continent, few countries have produced more legends than Ireland, particularly in the Ryder Cup.
Christy O’Connor Jr, Philip Walton, Paul McGinley, Pádraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell have all enjoyed stellar Ryder Cup careers and their own iconic moments for Europe.
Another player who is already steeped in the folklore of team golf for Europe is the silent Solheim assassin that is Maguire.
Two Solheim Cup appearances, one victory, one retention – 10 matches played, seven won and just two lost, unbeaten in fourballs and singles. Maguire isn’t long on the scene, but she is already a European hero.
Maguire has been involved in some famous moments for Europe – winning for just the second time on US soil in 2021 before helping the continent to a historic three-in-a-row trophy hold at Finca Cortesin last year.
She burst onto the scene in Ohio three years ago with a record-breaking performance as a rookie, picking up 4.5/5 points in a sensational unbeaten showing which is a Solheim and Ryder Cup record.
Amazingly, she is only in her fifth season on the LPGA Tour, but she is already something of a veteran when it comes to the Solheim Cup.
“I really enjoy it. It’s an environment in which I seem to thrive,” Maguire said.
“I’ve always loved matchplay. I love team golf, and I am fortunate to have had some great partners the last couple of years. You need a lot to go right for you and click that week, but my putter seems to heat up a little bit come Solheim Cup and that’s what you need if you want to win matches.”
Despite her world ranking tumbling outside of the top-30 in the Rolex World Rankings, the K Club ambassador will be one of the leaders when Suzann Pettersen takes her charges to the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia from September 13-15.
The usually biennial contest takes place just twelve months after Europe retained the cup in Spain in order to move back to even years.
Pettersen has been retained as captain and Maguire feels playing back-to-back years can help Europe maintain the momentum that has seen them win five of the last seven editions.
“I don’t envy Suzann! Or the assistant captains picking,” she smiled before Pettersen made her selections on August 26th. “It will be interesting, it will be very competitive, there will be a lot of players jockeying for those twelve spots.
“Obviously, you want as many European players playing well to pick from as possible. If we have plenty of players in form that’s a good headache for Suzann to have.
“Ultimately all I can do is keep playing as well as I can and make sure I am in good shape heading over to the States in September.”
Maguire has played under both Catriona Matthew and Pettersen, both of whom have been retained and given two contest terms. Europe have followed the model and have retained Luke Donald for the 2025 Ryder Cup in Bethpage in 12 months’ time.
The Aramco Series London winner believes a two-term captaincy is a good formula to follow.
“I think like anything I’m sure Beanie learned a lot from her first captaincy and Suzann will have learned a lot from Finca. Two great captains and anytime you win a Solheim Cup it’s no mean feat so it’s nice to have a good experience and good memories to bank and then build on,” she added.
Maguire has long been associated with the Solheim Cup having competed alongside her sister Lisa in the 2011 Junior Solheim Cup in Knightsbrook as a curtain raiser for the Solheim Cup in Killeen Castle.
Europe won a thrilling contest in Killeen that year, lifting the cup for the first time since 2003 and since then have seen the pendulum shift in their favour.
The world number 34, at time of writing, believes the reason for Europe’s recent success and dominance of the contest over the last thirteen years is due to the growth of women’s golf and more Europeans playing at the highest level on the LPGA Tour.
“It’s very fine margins, you see even from the first day last year us going 0-4 down. It doesn’t take much to swing one way or another,” explained the Florida resident who is wary of a rampant USA response this September.
“I don’t think Europe is massively stronger than the US. On paper the teams are incredibly evenly matched, and I think that is a testament to women’s golf.
“Right now, I think 10-15 years ago it was a lot more lopsided one way or the other, European players are playing in America, they are playing on good golf courses in the same competition, they’re not intimidated when it comes to big events like that.
“I would imagine the Americans will want to prove a point after the last time, especially on home soil and I think it will be a huge task ahead of us.”
Maguire bided her time and took the long route to the professional ranks. She attended Duke University before turning professional in 2018 as she joined her Olympic teammate Stephanie Meadow on the LPGA Tour.
Since then, Olivia Mehaffey has joined the paid ranks while Lauren Walsh has enjoyed a brilliant rookie campaign on the Ladies European Tour.
Behind that awaits an exciting crop of young players with Sara Byrne and Anna Foster recently turning professional, while Beth Coulter, Aine Donegan, Olivia Costello, Annabel Wilson and Kate Lanigan are at the top of the amateur game in Ireland and could take a leap into the paid ranks.
When the Solheim Cup was last in Ireland, thirteen years ago, the landscape for women’s golf was small and the Women’s Irish Open would be off the Ladies European Tour schedule for the next decade before it was revived by KPMG.
A return of the Solheim Cup to Ireland is something Maguire would love to see and who knows, perhaps she can hang around long enough to have a playing role and some of the up-and-coming crop can play their way onto the team.
“Yeah, I mean, with the Ryder Cup in a few years, it will be fantastic to see,” she said.
“I have vivid memories of Killeen Castle in 2011. These shirts remind me of that, and I think we all got a little bit of inspiration from that. It would be fantastic. I know there’s a few golf clubs interested in Ireland, and then, yeah, who knows if it’s the right time to play, or, yeah, maybe captaining there one day might not be too bad.
“Now with Olivia (Mehaffey) and Lauren (Walsh) out on the LET as well, it’s nice to have more Irish on the leaderboard every week and hopefully they can go from strength to strength.
“Obviously you want as many Irish girls on tour as possible, the same as what the lads had over the years and the more the merrier.”
Maguire’s debut Solheim Cup appearance in the United States was when she really announced herself to the world. After a couple of seasons of solid progression during which she had to battle Covid regulations on tour she was the talk of the town in Ohio as she spearheaded Europe to just a second ever win on US soil.
“It was an incredible week,” she said. “It was a dream come true to be there and to go and win a Solheim Cup on American soil, you can’t even imagine. We had a phenomenal team that week from top to bottom and it was an experience I will probably never forget,” she reflected.
Norwegian golfing legend Pettersen will be hoping that Maguire can put behind an inconsistent individual season and find the form that has made her such a fierce competitor in the Solheim Cup. “Leona, I mean, I just think she’s the type of player you would like to keep on the course at all times. She’s just that feisty. She’s just that good,” said Pettersen.
“As soon as those sunglasses go on, she’s in her own little bubble and just keeps herself there. She kind of proved that pretty well in Toledo and Spain and I’m pretty sure she’s going to be quite competitive again.”
Leave a comment