'Nice To Know My Game Stacks Up' - Leona Maguire On Women's PGA Championship Performance

Leona Maguire is enjoying some of the best golf of her life, with the 28-year-old carding four birdies and an eagle in her final six holes to secure her second LPGA Tour title at the Meijer LPGA Classic in June.

Following on from the win, Maguire was then in contention at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship and even held the 36 and 54-hole lead. However, a disappointing +3 final round dropped her four shots back of eventual winner, Yin Ruoning.

Despite the poor end to the second women's Major championship of 2023, Maguire has now finished inside the top-25 in four of her last five Major tournaments, something which has been a huge positive for the Irishwoman, given that the remaining Majors are coming in thick and fast over the next few months.

"I think I played some really good golf and that's obviously - it’s one thing playing good golf in regular tournaments, but knowing that you can compete with the best golfers in the world and at a Major, at a venue like Baltusrol... I think I take a lot of confidence from that," explained Maguire, who has moved inside the World's Top 10 for the first time in her career.

"I think Baltusrol was one of the toughest tests we've probably had. It was a really, really good golf course and a really good test. So it's nice to know that my game sort of stacks up at a venue like that, and I think you just take that confidence into Pebble next week. And it's all about just putting myself in positions to contend. And that's exactly where you want to be on Sunday at any tournament, and the same at Majors."

As the season hits its busiest point, the women's circuit heads to Pebble Beach for the very first time for the Women's US Open, with the Evian Championship, the fourth Major of the season, taking place just three weeks after. From there, it is the Scottish Open on the 3rd - 6th August, with the fifth and final Major taking place at Walton Heath for the AIG Women's Open.

"I mean, I've never played Walton Heath before," revealed Maguire, who claimed her best-ever finish in a Major at last year's event (T4). "It'll obviously be a very different test. I mean, looking forward to it. It’ll be unusual not to play the British Open on a Links golf course. Obviously, we did a few years ago at Woburn. I mean it'd be a new test. 

"I feel like my game's in really good shape. We've plenty of events between now and the British Open so, hopefully, I can continue that momentum and we have a couple of Majors before then so a bit more experience under my belt before I arrive in Walton Heath."

Back in February 2022, Maguire became the first Irish player to win on the LPGA Tour, with her subsequent form seeing her rise up the rankings. If Maguire were to win a Major, she would become just the seventh player from both Ireland and Northern Ireland to win a Major, as well as being the first female.

"I mean, it'd be a huge honour and a privilege obviously," stated Maguire. "Again, they are things that I try not to get caught up too much in on the day-to-day. I mean, if it happens, it happens. If not, I'll try and give myself as best a chance as I can. That experience, what it's like being in the last group Saturday and Sunday at Baltusrol last week, every time you're in those sorts of situations, you learn something, you gain more experience that hopefully will put you in better shape for the next time. Keep trying to put myself in those positions and we’ll see what happens."