Another weekend, another Irish sportswoman performing on the highest world stage.

Last weekend it was Rachael Blackmore and yesterday in Hawaii Leona Maguire finished second in the Lotte Championship on the LPGA Tour.

This matched the best ever performance in professional golf by an Irish woman. She finished second herself in the European Masters when still an amateur in 2015 and Maureen Madill filled the same position twice 30 years ago.

It will likely be enough to propel her into the top 100 of the World Rankings in her rookie season as a pro.

She has one more tournament to play after a twelve-week spin across the US, in Los Angeles next weekend, and she will then return to Cavan for a short break.

This weekend saw her come joint second after a -5 round and a -21 total behind winner Nelly Korda. Her approach to the 17th which left here a two-foot putt for an Eagle was highlighted by the Tour as one of the shots of the day.

Maguire is now in contention to become Ireland’s first-ever representative on the Solheim Cup team that will represent Europe against the USA in September. She is also in the box seat to make an appearance alongside Stephanie Meadow representing Ireland at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Her prize of $125,000 was the biggest of her career to date and brings her total earnings this season to $226,000.

She is managed by Modest Golf, Niall Horan’s golf company and her sister Lisa is a key member of the team.

Being switched on in the sponsorship world is clearly within her game as well with her thank you message on Twitter yesterday referencing her own sponsors KPMG, Davy, Kinetica Sports, Kingspan and Puma Golf alongside her home course of Slieve Russell, Team Ireland and Olympic sponsors Circle K.


 

Sport for Business Partners