Leona Maguire feels all facets of her game are in good shape and she is confident everything will click into gear sooner rather than later as a massive summer approaches.
Maguire will play in five major championships, the Olympics in Paris and the Solheim Cup and her plan has been to peak for a hectic period in the season.
The Cavan native has endured a mixed start to 2024 with plenty of low scores without necessarily putting four rounds together but is adamant she is about to hit her best form.
“I feel like I’ve been doing some really good golf. Just hasn’t all clicked together at the same time. We’re trending in the right direction, which is nice.
“It’s a massive summer coming up. We have a lot of golf to play in the meantime. We had a nice European Team dinner last night, so that was good to catch up with everybody and see everyone. Suzann and Caroline are over, so scouting people for match play.
“Yeah, it’s big summer. The Olympics would be a huge honor to be my third one again, and obviously the Solheim Cup is a lot of fun and you really want to be part of that. A lot of big tournaments in the meantime, so try and get my game in as good a shape come summer.”
Maguire is in action at the T-Mobile Matchplay Presented by MGM Rewards where she lies in a share of fifth place on three-under after a second round of 69 moved her into the top-8.
There will be a cut after 54 holes of strokeplay with eight players advancing to the quarter finals where the format will change to matchplay.
The cut is projected to fall at one-under-par with Stephanie Meadow one shot outside on level-par.
“I felt like I played really solid yesterday. It was kind of a steady day, which is never a bad thing out here. It’s tough. You have to hit — it really demands every single shot in your bag. You have to drive it well. You really have to pick your spots into the greens. You have to putt well,” said Maguire who included two twos in her six birdies at Shadow Creek.
“I took better advantage of the par-5s today, which made a big difference. Played the par-3s really nice. That was sort of the key difference between yesterday and today.”
The format has changed from a round robin to 54 holes of strokeplay with the top-8 qualifying for the matchplay. Maguire was third here last year and she looks to have found her feet again and would be a feared opponent if she makes it to the knockout stages given her impressive Solheim Cup record.
“I’m trying to sort of treat it the same. I feel like even in the match play you’re still trying to go as low as possible and shoot as best score as you can.
“I feel to get to that point, to match play, you needed to shoot 8-under par anyway, so the mentality is not too dissimilar.
“At the same time, you’re still playing stroke play. Ultimately you’re trying to be in the top eight after tomorrow, so trying to shoot as low a score as you can.
“I feel like my game is in really good shape. More of the same. Just trying to hit as many fairways and as many greens as possible. It’s going to be tough tomorrow with the wind, so just trying to be patient. I feel like this course really tests your patience and you have to be very disciplined and just more of that again tomorrow.
“I think this is a great golf course, one of the best courses we play all year. It’s a great test, so it’s really good practice heading into Chevron in a few weeks.”
Carlota Ciganda, Rose Zhang, Angel Yin and Sei Young Kim share the lead on four-under.
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