Despite having to settle for a share of 20th place in the end, Leona Maguire was full of positivity after completing her full Ladies European Tour debut at the Australian Ladies Classic in Bonville.
The Cavan professional closed with a three-over par 75 on a birdie-less final day to claim a solid top-20 finish on three-over par. It’s been anything but your average week Down Under with gusting winds toying with the whole field since Thursday but Maguire is loving life in Australia so far and is looking forward to one more opportunity to impress before Symetra duties return in America next month.
“It was a great first week and I’m loving Australia, it’s such a great country,” said Maguire.
“The weather and winds made for a really tricky week, however I enjoyed the challenge and I just need all the pieces of my game to come together now.
“I’m happy with a top-20 and feel it will help with momentum going into the next few weeks. It’s important that I get off to a quick start this season because I was playing catch up for the majority of last season.”
To say the former world amateur number one is satisfied with her current game would be wide of the mark but the feel good factor is certainly present as she makes her way south for the ActewAGL Canberra Classic at Royal Canberra GC (Mar 1-3).
“I feel I have some areas to continue to improve on my game and things have not quite clicked yet,” she reflected. But on the positives, I feel good, am well rested from the winter break and ready to go.”
At the top, Marianne Skarpnord ended a six-year drought to claim her fourth title on the Ladies European Tour after a closely fought battle at the Pacific Bay Resort.
Skarpnord fired a final round of 69 to earn a two-stroke victory on eight-under-par ahead of Australian Hannah Green and Nuria Iturrios of Spain after four rounds at Bonville Golf Resort.
“I’m delighted. I’m very, very happy because the last couple of years I’ve been struggling a bit and I haven’t been playing as well as I know I can,” said the 33-year-old from Norway, who finished second in the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open last month and has now moved to the top of the LET order of merit.
“I’ve had a great start to this year and it’s nice to see the hard work that I put in finally giving some good results.”
FULL RESULTS HERE
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