Leona Maguire solidified her place in history, becoming the first-ever Irish winner on the LPGA Tour.

The 27-year-old shot a final-round 67 to clinch a three-stroke victory in the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony Saturday. The history-making victory also marks Maguire’s first LPGA Tour career win since making her debut in 2019.

Tied with Marina Alex heading into the final day, Maguire carded seven birdies and two bogeys to pull away, finishing 18-under 198. American Lexi Thompson came in second, falling three shots behind Maguire.

“It’s been 17 years in the making, and you kind of wonder if it’s ever going to happen,” said Maguire following her win, “Just really proud of how I played all week, especially today.”

 

Typically in a world-class athlete’s career there’s a moment when they go from a “promising” or “can’t-miss” prospect to arrived.

For golfer Leona Maguire, a formerly renowned amateur player and the runner-up for LPGA Rookie of the Year in 2021, that moment came during September’s Solheim Cup.

Playing for the first time in the biennial Europe vs. USA team event, Maguire was the star of the show, going 4-0-1 in five matches to lead Team Europe to a 15-13 win. Just as the Ryder Cup on the men’s side reaches a deeper-than-usual golf audience because of the patriotism, emotion and pressure that come with such a format, this year’s Solheim Cup had wide-ranging television coverage and an on-site attendance of 130,000 over three days.

Rather than shrink under such a spotlight, Maguire shone. “I’d played in two junior Solheims and attended two real ones, but there was nothing like playing in it,” the just-turned 27-year-old says when we catch up with her in December. “It was like being at a football game. You don’t get that atmosphere at many golf events. It was really cool and very loud. I really enjoy being part of a team, and I had great teammates who gave me tips and advice, including Mel [Reid] on that first morning. Same with our captains. They made the rookies feel so comfortable, even if that big crowd wasn’t supporting us.”

The high-profile nature of the event and Maguire’s play in it put a spotlight on a player who’d mostly been known to fans as an amateur, if at all.

“The attention increased a lot after Solheim,” says Maguire’s manager, twin sister and fellow elite golfer, Lisa. “All of her social media platforms grew and many of the comments were about, ‘I didn’t realize how good she was.’ I knew from amateur and college, but Solheim let her shine on a bigger stage.”

Leona and Lisa grew up with schoolteacher parents in the small town of Ballyconnell in County Cavan, Ireland. Leona describes it as a “pretty rural, small town with one stoplight, middle of the countryside.”

Ireland may not be known for producing pro golfers, but it’s a land rich in courses and athletes of many disciplines.

Leona and Lisa did “every sport,” Leona recalls. Gaelic football, soccer, swimming. Swimming was their favorite and best until Lisa broke her elbow when the girls were 9. “Part of the rehab the specialist suggested was ‘racket sports,’” remembers Leona. “But there weren’t many places to play those, and dad played golf and figured golf was better than tennis. There was a course nearby and, bit by bit, we kept going out there. I enjoyed the fresh air and that every round something new could happen. Plus, Lisa was doing it and so I wanted to.”

Both sisters got good quickly, entering local and then European tournaments when they were 10. By the fall of 2006, Lisa finished first and Leona third in the U-12 World Golf Championship in North Carolina. They were officially on the amateur golf radar.

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Leona and Lisa Maguire first started playing golf when they were 9 years old. (Courtesy of Lisa Maguire)

At 14, the sisters played for Team Europe in the Junior Solheim Cup outside Chicago, which is when they started receiving interest from American college coaches. “We knew what college sports were, but not to the degree they are in the States. They’re not as serious in Ireland,” Leona says. American colleges started sending the sisters informational packets in 2015, and as they kept improving on the course, their options grew.

“We were weighing school in Ireland, turning pro or going to college in America,” Leona says. “College seemed like the best bet to reach [the LPGA]. Coach [Dan] Brooks had been one of the first to be in touch with us. The benefit of going to Duke was its mix of academics and athletics. We were surrounded by people preparing for the NBA, Olympic athletes, groundbreaking science and engineering, people excelling at whatever they’re doing. That environment excited us.”

Off to Duke it was, and the sisters were sensational. As a freshman in 2015, Leona won three individual tournaments throughout the season (and helped Duke win team events) en route to being named Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year by both the ACC and Women’s Golf Coaches Association. She also won the Annika Award as the best college women’s golfer in 2015. For good measure, Leona was named to the ACC’s All-Academic Team.

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Leona finished her career at Duke as a two-time National Player of the Year and a four-time All-American. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The amateur-to-pro transition in golf, for both men and women, is a lot like men’s basketball in terms of when athletes do it. Turning pro before you finish college is entirely accepted and almost normal. Sure enough, with Leona having reached literally the peak of her sport as a freshman, and men’s basketball classmates Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor and Justise Winslow leaving Durham in droves after winning the 2015 national championship, she was faced with a similar decision.

“After my freshman year, when I won the ACC, second in nationals, National Freshman of the Year, National Player of the Year, I was asked if I was coming back,” Leona recalls. “There were opportunities to turn pro and some people said I should. But Duke is such a special place and I’d made a commitment.”

Instead of turning pro then, Leona simply turned into the most accomplished amateur golfer of the modern era. In the summer of 2015, she accepted an invitation to play in the Ladies European Tour even in Denham, England. Competing against some of the top professionals in Europe, she finished second. Then she played in The Evian Championship against the greatest golfers in the world, and made the cut. She was the top amateur in the event and the first Irishwoman ever to make the cut in any major. Had she been allowed to accept the prize money for those two events, Leona would have taken home more than $75,000. She “settled” for being named Amateur Golfer of the Year and being the top-ranked amateur on the planet, a place she’d hold for a record 135 weeks, surpassing previous record-holder Lydia Ko’s 131.

The to-turn-pro or not-to-turn-pro debate continued annually throughout Leona’s time in Durham (and Lisa’s, as she was also excelling at Duke), but she never bit, wrapping up her undergraduate career with a second Annika Award and a place on the Academic All-American team.

As Coach Brooks said when Leona won the Annika Award in 2017, “What makes (all the honors) even more special is the type of person Leona is. She works hard, she appreciates the opportunities, and she sees the big picture — including a degree from Duke. She’s earned these accolades, and they couldn’t be going to a more appreciative student-athlete.”

On June 5, 2018, with the sisters each having graduated from Duke with Psychology majors, they did finally turn pro, signing with Niall Horan’s nascent Modest! Golf Management. Yes, that Niall Horan.

Leona made her professional debut later that week at the Shoprite LPGA Classic and played a mix of LPGA, LET and Symetra events throughout the rest of 2018. She did not do enough on the tours, or at Qualifying School, to qualify for full-time Tour membership in 2019, marking the first major bump in a career that had previously gone in only one direction.

“Missing Q School out of college was tough, but I had a good year on Symetra in 2019 and qualified for the 2020 LPGA Tour,” she says. Then, of course, the world stopped. Leona mostly hunkered down and practiced until the Tour resumed.

After the pandemic shortened and delayed the 2020 season, there was no proper Q School at the end of the year. As a result, the 2020 rookies were allowed to play as rookies in 2021, as well. “It kind of turned into an 18-month rookie year and I learned a lot,” Leona says.

Meanwhile, Lisa did not qualify at the end of 2019 and instead decided to transition to life “outside the ropes.” Modest! co-founder Mark McDonnell offered her a job as a client manager, with the idea that she could focus on her sister but also help grow the agency’s talent roster on the women’s side. “He felt my background in golf and collegiate golf would make me helpful, and it’s been very comfortable,” Lisa says. “No more scorecard pressure, not having to make a 5-footer on Friday night to play the weekend. I get to travel with Leona and support her. It was a no-brainer for me.”

Lisa has since added aspiring dentist to her resume while studying at University College Cork in Ireland, but she travels with Leona when school is not in session and manages her golf affairs from afar when she isn’t.

Our catch-up with both sisters occurs in early December, with Leona wrapping up offseason training at her homebase in Orlando and Lisa back home in County Cavan.

They will reunite with their larger family for the holidays. Leona will catch up in person with her longtime coach, Shane O’Grady, and then return to the States for the 2022 LPGA season, which conveniently kicks off in Orlando on Jan. 20.

At that point, the breakout star of 2021 will no longer be a rookie by any definition. Maguire wrapped up the 2021 season second in the ROY race, 17th in the Race to CME Globe season standings, 43rd in the Rolex overall world rankings and, of course, one heroic Solheim Cup performance.

It’s an impressive place for a golfer to be in the world’s game, even if she’s still searching for her first LPGA win.

As European Team Captain Catriona Matthew said of Leona in October: “She brought 4 1/2 points to the team, which was most important, plus a real grittiness. She’d been playing really well all year and, on form, was one of our top players going into it. I had followed her amateur career as well and knew she’d done well in the Curtis Cup, so I knew she had experience in match play. She’s one of those gritty characters that never gives up. Always a fighter.

“Hopefully the way she played at Solheim can springboard her into next year. I know she’s looking to get a win on the LPGA, and I can certainly see that in her future.”

“I’d love to build on the momentum of this year,” Leona says. “The LPGA is as strong as it’s ever been. You see what Nelly [Korda] and Jin Young [Ko] are doing. I’d love to be up there with them in contention on weekends at majors. I would also like to get a win this year.”

For all of the golf fans who fell in love with her game in 2021, the feeling is mutual.

Ben Osborne is the Head of Content at Just Women’s Sports. He has worked for FOX Sports, Bleacher Report and served as SLAM’s longest-tenured Editor-in-Chief. He has written articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post and books with NYU Press and Rizzoli. Follow him on Twitter @bosborne17.

Matilda Castren brought foresight to her role in Team Europe’s 15-13 victory at the 2021 Solheim Cup at Inverness Club on Monday.

At the start of the week, the rookie and the first player from Finland to wear the blue and yellow, talked about Suzann Pettersen’s impact on the team this year. Pettersen, Team Europe’s vice captain and a nine-time Solheim Cup veteran, retired after making the winning putt at the 2019 Solheim.

“There’s a big photo of [Pettersen making the winning putt] in our locker room and, walking past it every day, I just look at it,” Castren said. “And I’m like, wow, that’s so cool and I hope that I can be there one day making that winning putt.”

She didn’t have to wait long. Castren’s 12-foot, right-to-left breaking putt on the 18th hole Monday helped the Europeans edge the Americans, notching the team’s 14th point and securing their second victory on American soil and fourth win in the last six Cups.

“It’s hard to put it into words right now. I think I’m still shaking,” Castren said. “I just knew I was looking at the board, and I knew it was going to be an important putt, and I wanted to make it.”

The win delivers Team Europe captain Catriona Matthew her second and final Solheim Cup win. The 52-year-old acknowledged in her victory press conference that someone else would take the reins for the 2023 Cup in Spain.

Here are five takeaways from Team Europe’s victory.

1. The Iron Irishwoman makes Solheim history

Leona Maguire finished 4-0-1 in her rookie debut for Team Europe. The 4 1/2 points she earned for her side were the most ever by a rookie in the Solheim Cup. Maguire joins Carin Koch in 2002 (4-0-1) and Caroline Hedwall in 2013 (5-0-0) as the only three players to go undefeated in five matches in Solheim history.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my Solheim career,” Maguire said. “I’m very fortunate to have had two great partners the last two days as well, and Mel [Reid] made me feel so comfortable out there and let me go do my thing. It just worked really well.”

Maguire set the tone in her first match, defeating the Korda sisters 1-up in foursomes, their best event as a duo. Then she teamed up with Georgia Hall to beat Yealimi Noh and Brittany Altomare 1-up in four-ball for a clean sweep on Saturday.

The largest margin of victory at Inverness this week was 5-and-4, achieved three times. Maguire played a part in two of those wins. Alongside Mel Reid, she dispatched world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing in Sunday foursomes, and then she handed Jennifer Kupcho her only loss of the weekend in an easy Labor Day singles victory. In Sunday four-ball, Maguire’s lone tie came against Lizette Salas and Kupcho, the two Americans with the best record at this year’s Cup.

Maguire, the longest-reigning world No. 1 amateur, will undoubtedly be on the Americans’ radar for the foreseeable future.

“She’s good,” U.S. captain Pat Hurst said Monday. “She’s going to be around for a long time. She’s the one we’re going to have to fear, like I said, for a long time. She played at Duke and she was good there, and I think this is only going to elevate her game even that much more.”

The 26-year-olds Maguire and Castren (3-1-0) carried the banner for Team Europe, forming a powerful tandem for many Solheim Cups to come.

2. Europe’s fast starts keep Solheim crowd quiet

A record number of fans poured through the gates at Inverness over the weekend, with 130,000 total attending the Solheim Cup. They lined up well before 6 a.m. and were ready to roar once they took their seats in the pavilion surrounding the first and 10th tees, encouraging Team USA to get off to a hot start with their enthusiasm.

Instead, the Americans stumbled out of the gate. Of the 28 matches played at the Solheim Cup, Team Europe led through five holes in 17 of them. The United States led in just five, trailing in eight consecutive matches through the five-hole mark from Saturday four-ball through Sunday foursomes.

“I think obviously, with the home crowd advantage this year, it’s been tough,” Matthew said Sunday. “I thought the crowd was great today, but as you can imagine, there were a lot of USA chants. We were just trying to quiet that.”

There’s never a clear victor in a match through five holes, but 16 of the 28 Cup matches played out to the 18th hole. The early mark is a barometer for how involved the fans will get: As more European flags were raised, the more subdued the fans became. That affected the significant edge the United States should have had, given that European fans couldn’t travel to Inverness due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Matthew’s goal of keeping the fans anxious with Europe’s strong play early may have been the difference.

“I wish we could have given them a little bit more to cheer about today and kind of help get the momentum in our favor,” assistant Team USA captain Stacy Lewis said. “But the fans killed it this week.”

The United States put itself in a difficult situation, having to climb out of early holes time and time again. The pressure Europe was able to maintain through the weekend contributed to their historic second win on American soil.

3) The top Americans struggle

Team Europe’s top-ranked player in the Rolex Rankings was Anna Nordqvist, currently 16th in the world after her victory at the AIG Women’s Open in late August. Nelly Korda (No. 1), Danielle Kang (No. 8), Lexi Thompson (No. 12), and Lizette Salas (No. 14) all ranked ahead of the Swede, with Jessica Korda (No. 18) sitting only two spots behind Nordqvist.

With nearly half of the roster in the top 20 of the world rankings, the Americans were the favorites on paper and their stars were expected to lead the way. Instead, only Salas (2-1-1) won more than half of the points available to her. Nelly Korda (2-2-0), Kang (1-3-0), Thompson (1-2-1), and Jessica Korda (1-2-0) combined to leave 8 1/2 points on the board.

If 1 1/2 of those points flipped, Team USA would have taken the Cup back. Instead, the top three Europeans in our power rankings combined to go 9-1-2, with Nordqvist, Castren and Maguire leading the charge.

4. American rookies provide a glimpse into the future

Twenty-year-old Yealimi Noh (2-1-0) and 24-year-old Jennifer Kupcho (2-1-1) shined in their rookie debuts for Team USA as two of three players to secure over half of the points available to them.

“I feel like the MVP of our team is this one right here,” Salas said, pointing to Kupcho after they split four-ball with Reid and Maguire on Sunday afternoon.

Kupcho and Salas found success as a duo, going 2-0-1 together and securing 2 1/2 of a possible three points. The 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion, Kupcho thrived on the pulsating energy from the fans in Toledo.

“It’s super fun just to be able to hear the crowd roar,” Kupcho said. “I think it’s super exciting for me. I mean, I love the sound of it.”

Noh lost her first match to Maguire and Hall alongside Brittany Altomare. Teamed up with 31-year-old Mina Harigae in four-ball, Noh then defeated Team Europe’s Celine Boutier and Sophia Popov 4-and-3. The Bay Area native took down Solheim veteran Reid by one in singles Sunday, surging to a 4-up lead through four holes en route to notching her second point for Team USA.

“I’m so happy to be a part of this team last minute,” Noh said Monday. “It’s just been so amazing that I keep wanting to play. I hope I play in a couple more Solheim Cups in my career.”

5) Bubba Watson raises the bar for supporting the women’s game

Two-time Masters champion and current PGA Tour player Bubba Watson initially intended to travel to Inverness to participate in the celebrity matchup on Thursday. Once signed up for that, he reached out to captain Hurst to see if he could expand his role beyond the celebrity cameo.

“Bubba called a couple weeks ago … wanting to help women’s golf out,” Hurst said last week. “He’s got a wife, he’s got a daughter, and he loves golf and, like I said, he just wants to support women’s golf.”

Watson’s first bridge to the American team was Nelly Korda. The 23-year-old credited the perspective Watson shared with her at the U.S. Open with the career-low 62 she carded at the Meijer LPGA Classic. The performance vaulted Korda to her second victory of the season a week before she won the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and became the No. 1 player in the world.

Watson put in the work as a helper for Team USA, filling in divots, doling out advice from his four Ryder Cup appearances and listening in on his official “Helper” Team USA radio.

Watson punctuated his support in an interview on the first tee Saturday with Amanda Balonis.

“The world needs to see that the ladies have just as much talent, if not more than we do,” he said.

Matilda Castren’s 10-foot putt for par on the 18th green sealed Team Europe’s 15-13 victory over Team USA at the Solheim Cup on Monday.

The Europeans never trailed during the three-day tournament at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio, winning on American soil for just the second time in the history of the event. Team Europe has now won four of the last six biennial tournaments.

“Hands down, I think this is the best team Europe has ever had,” said Anna Nordqvist, who was competing in her seventh Solheim Cup.

Rookie Leona Maguire, the first Irishwoman to make a Solheim Cup team, led the way for Team Europe. The 26-year-old went 4-0-1 over the weekend as the only golfer to participate in all five events.

“Hopefully the whole world now sees how good she is,” said Mel Reid, Maguire’s partner for three sessions.

After Team Europe earned three of the first four points in singles on the final day of competition Monday, the Americans attempted to stage a comeback. Nelly Korda came from behind to claim a 1-up win over Georgia Hull while sister Jessica Korda defeated Charley Hull 3-and-1.

In the end, their efforts weren’t enough to earn the 7 1/2 points needed for Team USA to complete the rally. Before the weekend, the U.S. was 8-1 at home in Solheim Cup history.

Team Europe, behind strong performances from Leona Maguire and Mel Reid, will take a 9-7 lead over Team USA into the final day of the Solheim Cup.

If Europe holds won, it would be just the second time in 31 years that they have captured the Cup on foreign soil.

Maguire and Reid finished the weekend unbeaten in three matches after dominating world No. 1 Nelly Korda and Ally Ewing in alternate-shot play Sunday morning. In the afternoon, the two tied Jennifer Kupcho and Lizette Salas in four-ball to maintain the lead.

On Monday, the Europeans need just five out of a possible 12 points to maintain their lead and keep the Cup. Meanwhile, the Americans need 7 ½ points to complete the comeback.

But history may not be on the side of the Europeans. After 16 matches, the Europeans have found themselves in the lead eight times. They’ve won only half of those competitions, with the last one coming in 2013 — their sole triumph on U.S. soil at Colorado Golf Club.

There is some hope for Team USA. If the Korda sisters — who are just 1-3 at Inverness — find their game, they could be a key factor in the comeback. Nelly Korda will face Georgia Hall and Jessica Korda will play Charley Hall in the penultimate match.

U.S. captain Pat Hurst remains confident in their abilities.

“I need them for my singles matches,” Hurst said Sunday. “That’s where we usually shine.”

Hurst isn’t wrong. In nine out of 16 Solheim Cups, the U.S. has posted the better singles mark.

“It’s going to be tight,” said Team Europe captain Catriona Matthew, who guided Europe to victory at Gleneagles two years ago. “It always seems to come down to the singles. Every little half-point here or there is going to be crucial.”