Leona Maguire said that her limited role in this year’s Solheim Cup gave her extra motivation to win her point for Europe in the Sunday Singles after a frustrating week on the sidelines.
Maguire had been a talismanic figure for Europe in her previous two Solheim appearances, winning seven and a half points and playing all ten sessions but in Robert Trent Jones Club she featured just twice.
The Cavan woman partnered Georgia Hall as they were trounced 5&4 on Friday afternoon’s four balls which was enough for captain Suzann Pettersen to leave her out of both sessions on Saturday while persisting with Hall. Maguire did return with an impressive 4&3 victory over Ally Ewing to maintain her 100% record in singles matches.
“I feel like I’ve been playing really great golf all week in practice and it was a bitter pill to swallow to be sat out for as many sessions as I was,” Maguire said.
“I thought, ‘I have got a point to prove today’. I love the Solheim Cup, I love match play and I really wanted to deliver a point for the team today, and nice to do that.”
Maguire also revealed that Pettersen didn’t give much of a reason for leaving her out of the entire day’s play on Saturday.
“[Pettersen] didn’t give much reason, to be honest. The feeling I got was that I was a little bit too short and didn’t make enough birdies, but I think I proved today there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and I think I made plenty of birdies today.
“It’s Solheim Cup, I don’t need any extra motivation but yeah, there probably was a little bit extra there, not going to lie. But ultimately it’s what’s best for the team this week.
“I would have loved the opportunity to try and deliver more points for the team, but I did what I could today.”
Norwegian Pettersen stuck to her guns having also played rookie Albane Valenzuela just twice.
“I’ve never lived my life regretting any decisions,” Pettersen said in her press conference. “You’d rather play with your gut feel and your heart. Sometimes you get outplayed. There was a reason why Leona and the line-up in the back was what it was. We know what they’re capable of.
“We know what they’re facing. If we were going to have a chance at this, we needed all 12 players. It would have been nice to have an anchor like Leona in the back knowing she can take it and get it done.
“I mean, it’s a 12-woman team, and it’s always going to be hard to do the pairings. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get outplayed. Maybe we could have played other players that maybe could have faced different opponents that could have changed the outcome.
“You can always look back, but at the same time I don’t think we as a team have any regrets of what we did. We tried our best.”
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