PGA Tour players often throw their toys out of the pram after playing back to back weeks. Well, Leona Maguire completed her fourth tournament in five weeks and was understandably shattered after her KPMG Women’s Irish Open campaign ended with a birdie less round of 74.
Maguire will head to France tonight for the Evian Championship and it’s part of a gruelling trans Atlantic schedule that includes carrying the burden of being the home favourite at Carton House this week where she hopped off a plane and straight into a corporate event on the Monday despite battling jet lag.
It’s all part of the hectic off course itinerary that the Cavan star has to indulge herself in every year which makes her battling performance to make the cut on Friday more admirable, but it’s clear that it has taken a toll on her.
“I’m just exhausted,” said Maguire with a smile. “There was nothing left in the tank today, and drove it really nice. Just a lot of poor iron shots. Yeah, I’m not going to read much too much into it, to be honest. It’s been a long run, and it’s been a very tiring week, so we’ll dust ourselves off and go again next week.
“It’s demanding. If this wasn’t the Irish open, I wouldn’t have played this week. Would have been nice to have a week off before for Evian but yeah, I mean, we’re lucky to do what we do and get to travel the world and everything that comes with it. So yeah, tried my best this week, wasn’t good enough. And yeah, we’ll roll again next week.
“It was just a bit flat this week. I think just in general, there was, I think other years I’ve kind of rode the crest of the adrenaline and the crowds and all of that. And it was just a bit flat this week. Never quite kind of got any momentum going at all. It would have been nice to being in the business end of things on Sunday and have a bit more energy. But it is what it is.”
Despite her tiredness and with a major championship to come next week, there were chutes of recovery in her game again this week. She was four-under after 9 holes on Saturday and she has previously shot 61 at the Evian Championship and with vast course knowledge and no Wednesday pro-am to struggle through, she might get the rest that she needs in order to get the best out of herself with her game close to clicking into gear for all four days.
“Yeah, there’s sparks of it. There were sparks of it this week,” Maguire reflected on her overall performance. There was some nice patches of really nice golf, and then there was a lot of tired golf in there. So we’ll take the positives from this week and try and bring as much of that into next week as best we can.
“I’m not in the Pro on Wednesday, which is actually nice. Was nice to open that email for a change. I think it’s the first Pro Am I’m not in in about five years. So Wednesday will be a little bit of an easier day. So, yeah, just maybe nine holes, nine holes, maybe tomorrow evening, nine holes Tuesday, and then be ready to go.”
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