04-06-2025
Leona Maguire's game moving in right direction ahead of busy five weeks
Missing three consecutive cuts, her first time doing so since 2022, would seem to be reason for Leona Maguire to be worried about her form. After carding a 76 in her opening round at Erin Hills for last week's US Open, the Cavan golfer gave herself a chance of making it to the weekend with a fine front nine on day two. Her ascent of the leaderboard lost altitude after a triple bogey on the 11th. Despite adding to the missed cuts at the Riviera Maya Open and the Americas Open, Maguire believes her game is finding its edge.
'I'm not overly concerned about last week,' said Maguire during a media day for next month's KPMG Irish Open at Carton House.
'If anything, last week was a big step in the right direction. It's probably the best I've drove the ball in about two years. To come away from a US Open and only miss two fairways in two days, I'm quite happy with that.
'I feel like I'm playing a lot better than I'm scoring, which is a little bit frustrating. But at the same time, I'm not worried because I know I'm playing good golf.'
The Meijer Classic later this month, a tournament Maguire won two years ago, begins a busy five weeks. After Michigan, she heads to Texas for the PGA Championship, 2025's third major. Then there's the Dow Championship before she flies back home for another tilt at the Irish Open. The year's fourth major, the Evian Championship in France, finishes the five-week run. Usually, Maguire would only play for three consecutive weeks before taking a break but the schedule has forced her usual routine to change.
'I'm going to have to be disciplined,' she said.
'It'll be a lot of nine hole practice rounds and just being really smart and efficient with how we prepare and practice.
'The nice thing is I've gone to Grand Rapids many times, I know that golf course very well. I've played the Dow before, I've played Carton before, I've played Evian before.
'The only new golf course is the Frisco course for the KPMG PGA Championship. I'm going there at the weekend to scout it out.
'My whole team has known this is coming down the line. This block has been circled on the calendar for a while. We've put in the preparation to navigate that, so that by the time the end of the summer comes around I'm not absolutely spent.'
Maguire feeling like her driving is in its best place since 2023 is the result of work which finally clicked. She had been chopping and changing her driver, eventually sticking with the Ping G430 for the US Open.
'Actually after Mexico, I flew up to the US Open early and spent a decent while on the range with Shane (O'Grady, her coach) on FaceTime," she explained.
"He'd been going back through old footage of what I was doing when I was driving the ball really well and just noticed a few things; we had a drill that I was doing last week and it really just helped me get through the ball a bit better. I've been doubling down on that this week to even get it dialled in even more.'
Earlier this year, Maguire split with caddie Verners Tess after just eight months. Cork native Shane O'Connell is now on her bag.
'He's been a really good addition,' said Maguire. 'He's obviously learning as he goes, it's been a bit of an adjustment coming across to the women's side.
'He said he's definitely getting a lot less steps in. There's some parts of the golf course he doesn't even have to worry about anymore, which is nice for him.
'Then just getting used to how the ball spins; we don't spin it half as much as the lads, having to worry about wedges ripping off greens. The trajectory, getting used to just my numbers and you know the hybrids and how things land.
'He hadn't done any majors before this. Even just seeing a US Open set up last week... He's been quite lucky. We've had some unbelievable golf courses in his first few weeks we played Liberty National, Shadow Creek and Erin Hills.
'I feel like he's adapted really well. He's not afraid to give his opinion when needed. He works extremely hard, always out walking the courses, working things out. It's nice to have someone that matches my preparation with hard work.'
