WHEN LEONA AND LISA Maguire were growing up, they had their pick of sports to choose from. They had little choice in it.
Their father, Declan, was a school teacher in St Mary’s Primary School in Teemore, just across the border in Fermanagh, from the family base in Ballyconnell.
His own tastes were broad. He coached camogie with the school and was the driving force for the strength of the local club for a time. He had a novel means of refereeing school games, using a recorder from the music room to blow frees, rather than a whistle.
The girls were taken to the swimming pool at the Slieve Russell Hotel and Declan was a constant, urging and vocal presence. They had family in Enniskillen and so ended up playing golf at the Castlehume Golf club.
Sport was something spread through the family. When Ireland’s rowers were in action during the Paris Olympics a few weeks back, they had a cousin in Ross Corrigan competing in the final.
There was a method in how their potential was played out. Along the way, Lisa stepped away. But Leona’s competitive streak grew keen, becoming the longest number one amateur in the world, through a college career at Duke University where she shattered all college records.
Off the course, she embraced American campus life, and was inducted into the Phi Betta Kappa honour society. In the classroom her focus was laser-like and she left with a degree in psychology, buttressed with a certificate in markets and management studies, before she jumped into the professional scene in May 2018.
2019 brought two wins on the Symetra Tour in Europe, granting her a tour card for 2020 LPGA season.
That first year, learning how to cope with the travel, the living out of a suitcase lifestyle, experiencing extreme displacement, all the while being judged by fellow competitors and potential sponsor, brought pressures. Her form was more solid than spectacular.
Did she change the Solheim Cup, or did the Solheim Cup launch her own form into orbit? It’s a mix of the two. Her form in 2021 had show signs of rapid improvement with two runner-up finishes and three top-ten finishes outside of those.
Armed with a wildcard pick for the Solheim, Catriona Matthew went for the girl from Cavan and she became the first Irish woman to play the tournament.
She had the notion as one of her season’s goals, as she explained at the time.
“I tried not to think about it too much. But it is a big deal. No Irish woman has ever done it before. I’m the first – hopefully I won’t be the last – but yeah, it’s going to be a really special week.”
That week was spent at the Inverness Club in Ohio.
Matthew had faith in her rookie, putting her out in the morning foursomes. More than that, Maguire would be the one teeing off.
Push on for another 17 holes and there’s Leona Maguire of Cavan standing over a four-foot putt to win her match. In her bearing, she wears the poker face but when the ball rolled in, she allowed herself a brief cry of ‘Come on!’ before holding her team mate Mel Reid tight. They had beaten the Korda sisters; billed beforehand as America’s strongest pairing.
The faith invested in her was paid back when she broke new ground, the all-time points record of a rookie in either the Solheim or Ryder Cups with a total of 4.5.
It was therefore reassuring familiar that Maguire, for all that psychology degree, came out with the classic Irish post-contest quips.
“I think everybody had written us off today,” she said, before her next line revealed the competitive beast within, “And we just sort of took that in our stride and wanted to be as relentless and fearless as possible.”
She was the only player in either team to play all five matches, in three days. Both captains made a decision to rest each of the players for one of the paired sessions before Sunday singles. Apart from one; Maguire.
For familiarity’s sake, who does that compare with, that body of work, in the men’s game?
Jon Rahm. Rory McIlroy. That’s it. God Almighty.
What did she do with that opportunity? She was drawn against her former College opponent Jennifer Kupcho and eased her way to victory, helping Europe to a 15-13 triumph.
“The big thing I’ll take from Solheim Cup,” she said some weeks after, “Is feeling like I belong out here. Bit by bit this year, I felt more and more comfortable every week.”
Arriving on a scene and imposing yourself is not outside her remit. After all, she was the youngest to win the Helen Holm Scottish Open Amateur championship in 2009 at a mere 14.
That same year she was in action for Great Britain and Ireland for the Vagliano Trophy for the first of four times, setting that record as the youngest to achieve such a feat.
The Solheim Cup has rolled into deep Virginia, to the Robert Trent Jones golf club in Gainesville.
Maguire was there for the last one, only last September in Andalusia. She was called upon to play five matches, winning four and halving one.
This weekend, they are seeking to create more history; the first time the crown has been held four consecutive times. The local flavour will make it – within reason – hostile territory for the touring party.
On the tour, Maguire’s career has been sitting bobbing along with an admirable consistency. Last year brought her second win on the LPGA Tour at the Meijer LPGA Classic. This year she became the first Irish woman to win on the European Tour, with the Aramco Team Series Event in July.
But much like her Irish contemporaries in McIlroy, Shane Lowry, and Paul McGinley, they appear to relish the team environment.
And with the team environment, the Solheim Cup was brought many examples when it felt there was a little saltiness to the rivalry. That the various incidents contributing to the friction usually comes from breaches of golf etiquette always brings the element of puffed-out self importance.
Such as in Maguire’s debut campaign, when Nelly Korda’s ball was lifted too quickly by Madelene Sagström. If that shot had have rolled into the hole, the putt would have secured an eagle for Korda and with that, the hole. Instead of waiting the mandatory ten seconds, Sagström lifted it.
A furious row ensued. Tears were shed. The boulevards won’t forget.
There’s a little needle here again. Last Wednesday, the US team were warming up on the driving range. Their concentration was affected by the proximity of the European base, some of their players talking and having breakfast.
“Their team room kind of exploded on to the driving range a little bit,” said Stacy Lewis, the US Captain.
“But we reeled it in. It’s all good. We adjusted the way the range was set up a little bit and moved the US team further down so Europe could do what they wanted, basically.
“Our players were warming up and they’re there eating breakfast and talking. We were just trying to get everybody some space so they didn’t have to listen to them eating breakfast. That’s all.”
In golf, that’s enough for all-out war.
Maguire will face adversity on the course. Off it, her association with Kingspan is something that will be questioned in light of the findings against that company by the recent enquiry into the Grenfell tower block inferno and subsequent loss of 72 lives.
With her compatriot Shane Lowry ending his relationship with the insulation company, it brings added pressure. Given that this tournament is in Virginia, it’s unlikely to be a topic of conversation.
That question will be answered. For now, she has a leading role to play in this Solheim Cup.
