Leona Maguire wins second LPGA Tour title with victory in Michigan

The world number 20 went into the final round at Blythefield Country Club just two shots behind South Korea’s Amy Yang and admitted she would need to “go low” if she was to improve on back to back runner-up finishes in Grand Rapids.

She was second to Nelly Korda in 2021 after a closing 66 and beaten in a playoff last year featuring Korda and eventual winner Jennifer Kupcho 12 months ago.

Maguire won $375,000 to take her season’s earnings to $714,666 and her career tally on the LPGA Tour to $3,593,025.

“I feel like I have taken different things from both year,” Maguire said after following a birdie at the 13th and an eagle three at the 14th with three successive birdies for her eight-under 64 and a one-stroke win over Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn on 21-under par.

“I’ve been playing some really good golf leading into this week, just trying to be patient and it was nice to go bogey-free on Sunday.

“My goal was to get to 20-under and it was nice to go even one better than that.”

It was the Ballyconnell battler’s second win on the LPGA Tour following her breakthrough victory at the LPGA Drive on Championship last year.

“I felt like I played some really good golf last year,” she said. “I was beaten in a playoff here and was second at CME (Tour Championship) and you have to play really good golf to win out here.

“It’s tough, so it’s a really nice feeling to get this one, especially heading into the Majors that we have got coming up.”

Maguire will be amongst the favourites for this week’s KPMG Women’s PGA at Baltusrol and the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach from July 6-9.

“I feel like my game has been in really good shape,” she said of her hopes for the major season with the Amundi Evian Championship and the AIG Women's Open at Walton Heath also on the horizon.

“It’s just more of the same, keep giving myself chances.”

As for the inspiration she’s had from Rory McIlroy, she said: "Rory has been incredibly impressive over the year. Yes he has been a big inspiration for me but a big one has been Pádraig Harrington.

"I had some big up and downs today and Pádraig showed me those shots. It’s nice to have that sort of camaraderie.

“Hopefully Rory can have a good day today and give people at home something to think.”

As for her final round, she called her birdie putt at the 13th a momentum shift and the eagle at the 14th a bonus.

“It’s really satisfying because I have been playing some really good golf lately,”she said. “I was on both ends of it the last two years, leading from the front and chasing. My goal was 20 under.

"I didn’t look at leaderboards and it was a bonus to go one better than the last two years and bogey free was a bonus.

“I didn’t know what the girls were doing behind or whether I was in front or behind,. When I was going to hit my chip on 18, I looked an I saw I didn’t have to get up and down to win and that the other girls were at 18-under."

“It was a relief more than anything after going so close the last few years,” she added. “This was good preparation for next week so I will rest as much as I can."

Stephanie Meadow also had a good day, making six birdies in a four-under 68 to finish a season’s best tied 13th on 13-under par.

On the Ladies European Tour, it was also a positive week for Tandragee’s Olivia Mehaffey as she tied for 12th in the Amundi German Masters.

The former Curtis Cup star did not manage to become the first Irish woman to win on the LET but after nearly two years of struggles both technically and mentally a final round of two-over 74 saw her pick up €6,150 and move to 100th in the Race to the Costa del Sol.

Mehaffey took a break from life on Tour halfway through last season after needing to work on her mental health and heal following the death of her father Philip in December 2021.

After opening with a 64 to lead the event, she added rounds of 71 and 73 to go into yesterday’s final round five strokes behind England’s Cara Gainer and the Czech Republic’s Kristyna Napoleaova.

While she went to the turn in a nervous four-over 40 and was five-over through 11 holes, she played the last six in three-under to finish six shots outside a playoff that saw Napoleaova beat Gainer with a birdie at the first playoff hole.