Get to know Leona Maguire better with these facts you might not have known...
23 Things You Didn’t Know About Leona Maguire
Ireland’s Leona Maguire was somewhat of a child prodigy growing up and has now established herself on the LPGA Tour ahead of her second appearance in the Olympics.
The 26-year-old achieved so much as an amateur that many have tipped her to become a real force in the women’s game in the years to come. You can get to know her a little better with these facts.
23 Things You Didn’t Know About Leona Maguire
1. Leona Maguire was born on November 30, 1994 in County Cavan, Ireland
2. Aged 9, she decided to focus on golf, having also been a promising swimmer
3. She has a twin sister Lisa Maguire, who is 15 minutes older and is also a professional golfer
4. In 2006, Leona and her sister brought the Ryder Cup trophy to the stage at the presentation ceremony as Europe celebrated their win at the K Club
5. As an amateur, Maguire was prolific, picking up countless wins at each age group as she progressed through the ranks
6. In 2008, Maguire and her twin sister were picked for the European Junior Ryder Cup team to take on the US at Olde Stone in Kentucky, although it ended in defeat
7. Maguire became the youngest player to win the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship in 2009 at the age of 14
8. Also in 2009, she represented Great Britain and Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy for the first of four times, setting the record as the youngest player to achieve such a feat
9. She has played in two Junior Solheim Cups (2009 and 2011)
Lisa Maguire (left) and Leona Maguire (right) at the 2011 Junior Solheim Cup
10. Maguire is the youngest player ever to represent GB&I in the Curtis Cup, doing so when she was 15 in 2010. She made three Curtis Cup appearances, winning two of them (2012 and 2016) and losing one (2010)
11. In 2012, Maguire made her debut major championship appearance at the Women’s British Open where she would miss the cut
12. After leaving school in 2014, Maguire went to Duke University in North Carolina
13. By 2015, she was the top ranked female amateur in the world and won the Annika Award for the best golfer of the year in American college women’s golf
14. She was invited to play in the Ladies European Tour’s 2015 ISPS Handa Championship as a guest amateur, where she remarkably finished second, just a shot behind the winner. As she wasn’t yet a professional, Maguire could not accept the €50,000 prize
15. In Maguire’s second major appearance at the 2015 Evian Championship, she became the first woman from Ireland to make the cut in a major before going on to finish as the leading amateur
16. In total, Maguire had to forfeit more than €68,000 in prize money in 2015
17. Despite being an amateur, Maguire represented Ireland at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finishing in a tie for 21st place
18. She made the cut at the 2017 Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns and added the Smyth Salver for leading amateur to her trophy cabinet
19. In 2017, she won the Women’s Amateur Championship for the first time, beating Spain’s Ainhoa Olarra in the final at Pyle & Kenfig
Maguire with the trophy after winning the 2017 Women’s British Amateur Championship
20. Maguire holds the record for the most time spent at the top of the World Amateur rankings, with 135 weeks
21. While still an amateur, she qualified for the Symetra Tour in 2018
22. She turned pro in June of 2018 and has picked up two Symetra Tour wins – the 2019 Windsor Golf Classic and Symetra Classic
23. Her best result in a major came at the 2021 Evian Championship, where she finished in a tie for sixth
This article 23 Things You Didn’t Know About Leona Maguire appeared first on Golf Monthly.