The KPMG Women's Irish Open starts today, with Leona Maguire headlining the popular Ladies European Tour event
Leona Maguire is once again excited to be teeing it up at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open on the Ladies European Tour (LET).
It is a new venue for the 2024 edition of the tournament as The O’Meara Course at Carton House, which is located just outside of Dublin, is hosting for the first time.
Since returning to the LET schedule, the tournament has been known for its great crowds and Maguire is looking forward to another great week in her homeland.
“I always enjoy this week,” said the Solheim Cup winner. “I always get fantastic support and being closer to Dublin this year they’re hoping for even bigger crowds than the past two years.
“Dromoland did a phenomenal job the last two years and Carton have really put their best foot forward. The golf course is great, the hotel is great and even the weather seems to be co-operating as well. I’m looking forward to a fantastic week, and hopefully we get just as good crowds if not better.”
Looking to add a second LET title
Maguire can do something she hasn’t done before this week as she will tee it up on the LET in her home country as an LET winner.
The 29-year-old clinched her maiden LET victory at the start of July after rolling in an eagle putt on the last in the Individual event at the Aramco Team Series – London.
“I don’t get to play a lot of LET events, so it was good to get that ticked off the list and win on the LET,” she continued.
“The year has been a bit mixed. I have been trying a few things and some of it has worked, some of it hasn’t. That’s the nature of golf. Second place in Vegas, I played really good golf and ran into Nelly [Korda] at the wrong time.
“The highlight probably was that win in London, I felt like I played some really good golf last week at St Andrews. I just didn’t finish it quite off on Sunday. My game is in good shape, the pieces are all there I’m just trying to get them to click all at once.”
From links to parkland
Maguire will be teeing it up in the first round on Thursday at 1.48 pm (local time) alongside Thailand’s Trichat Cheenglab and Norway’s Kristin Sim.
Having played two weeks of links golf in Scotland, this week is all about readjusting to the parkland of the O’Meara Course.
“It's a very different test than what we’ve had the last two weeks in Scotland,” she added. “It’s about adjusting back to seeing the ball in the air, getting the ball a little bit closer to the hole. There are some tricky holes and there are some holes that are really good birdie chances.
“The job in hand this week is to try and do as well as I possibly can. We’ve got Solheim Cup coming up and then still a lot of LPGA events to play. I’ll try to get myself into contention as much as I can in the second half of the year.”
Find out all you need to know about the KPMG Women's Irish Open here.