Alex Maguire is putting any dreams of the Claret Jug to one side as he focuses on his European Team Championships debut for Ireland this week in Belgium.
Maguire headlines a very strong six-man Irish panel in Belgium alongside Liam Nolan, Matthew McClean, Max Kennedy, Mark Power and Caolan Rafferty as he puts on the green jersey for the first time in almost two years.
“First time playing European Teams, a big debut! I haven’t experienced it before so I’m not quite sure what to expect I know it’s a busy week of golf with the strokeplay and then matchplay but I haven’t played for Ireland since September 2021 so I’m very excited to put that green shirt on and represent Ireland in a team event, really looking forward to get going with the lads and win as many points as we can,” Maguire explains at Golf Ireland HQ.
“I really missed not playing, it’s the biggest honour you can have playing for your country, there’s no bigger team event in world amateur golf, the Europeans is the big team championship. Growing up my friends would have always been talking about the six man team being the biggest team to be on so it’s my goal to play for Ireland every year and get that green jersey on and to play for your country is such an honour. I missed the craic with the lads, going on trips, having fun and then getting on that first tee representing your country it’s a different level to playing for yourself.”
The Laytown & Bettystown star has been a noticeable omission from Irish panels over the last two years despite picking up North and East of Ireland titles, deep runs at the Amateur Championship but a St Andrews Links Trophy win made him impossible to ignore this time around. His motivation fuelled by the fear of missing out again.
“With team selections you have managers and selections who obviously pick the best team they think, if that includes me great but if it doesn’t I will still cheer on the team I won’t be too disappointed whether I feel like I should be on teams or not,” the 22-year-old Florida Atlantic student says.
“There are so many great players in Ireland that makes it really hard to pick these teams so selfishly I would like to be on all of them but there is serious depth there that you can’t be mad at selectors or be disappointed with them when they pick a different team, there hasn’t been a weak Irish team for years so there’s always someone who’s going to miss out, unfortunately that was me last year but I’m delighted to be back this year.
“It’s great to be able to catch up with the lads and go into European Teams with a strong bond, we all feel comfortable and feel like a proper team going out there. You don’t want to just link up in the airport so meeting here at Golf Ireland HQ is key.”
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