The LPGA Tour is shifting towards longer courses with firmer greens which has put a premium on distance off the tee and has left Leona Maguire chasing her tail as she looks to keep up.
She has previously lamented that she often hits woods or hybrids into greens leaving her unable to attack some pins while he playing partners launch short irons and wedges into orbit for that soft landing on the greens. But put the Cavan star on a traditional golf course where it’s firm, fast and accuracy and discipline is prioritised over distance. Well, she can still hang with the best of them.
Sunday’s T8th place finish at the Scottish Women’s Open breathed hope into a Solheim Cup bid that seemed to have gotten away from her. With just two qualifying events remaining, Maguire gave a timely reminder to European captain Anna Nordqvist of what she is capable of.
This week is AIG Women’s Open week at Royal Lytham and St Annes. Another test which will require precision and patience which should suit Maguire. It is the last chance for those looking to push their way into the automatic qualification spots and the likes of Maguire who need a captain’s pick for the 20th edition of the contest at Bernardus in the Netherlands in September.
Europe has eight automatic qualifiers, the top two players from the LET points list and another six from the Rolex Rankings. The last four roster spots are captain’s picks.
After the Scottish Women’s Open, Maguire is 12th on the LET points list and 82nd on the Rolex World Rankings which haven’t been updated at the time of writing. She is bang on the fringes and another strong showing this week will make her very difficult to ignore.
The two-time LPGA Tour winner would bring a wealth of Solheim Cup experience and form to the contest should she received a captain’s pick.
She was frustrated at her lack of game time two years ago but in 2021 she broke the all-time rookie points record in either the Solheim or Ryder Cup with 4.5 points from 5 available.
She won three points in 2023 when Europe retained in Finca Cortesin and boasts a 7-2-1 record.
There was also reasons to be encouraged on the PGA Tour for Seamus Power who looks to have found a bit of form with finishes of T11 and T10 in his last two starts after a run of MC in Canada and WD from the John Deere cast doubts over his fitness once again.
But he looks to be in fine fettle and even had an outside chance of victory heading into Sunday’s final round of the 3M Open but a three-under 68 was enough to cling on to a vital top-10, his first since the 2025 RSM Classic.
It moves Power back inside the top-200 in the Official World Golf Rankings to 184th while he also climbed from 115th in the FedEx Cup to 104th as he looks to edge back inside the all important top-100 and get a full card for next year.
Power only salvaged conditional status last year which gave him limited starts and needs a good week at the RSM Classic before he most likely sits out the FedEx Cup playoffs and resumes his survival hopes in the fall season events.
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