Leona Maguire Eyeing Breakthrough Major Championship Win at Women’s PGA

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Leona Maguire will explore uncharted territory on Saturday evening.

For the first time in her career, the native of Cavan, Ireland will sleep on a 54-hole solo lead in a major championship. A two-putt birdie on Baltusrol’s closing par-5 capped off her 2-under 69, catapulting her to the top of the leaderboard. With one round to play, Maguire sits one shot ahead of South Korea’s Jenny Shin and two clear of her longtime friend and teammate on Ireland’s national team, Stephanie Meadow.

“Yeah, a steady day today. It was more of a mixed bag than the last few days. Had to scramble a little bit more today. I had a few key up-and-downs out of bunkers today to keep me going and keep me in it. Always nice to finish with a birdie on 18,” she said.

As unfamiliar as her position through three rounds might be, it comes at absolutely no surprise. Steady play has been a default for the 28-year-old Duke product recently, and her ball striking has led the way.

Maguire missed four greens in regulation on Saturday (the “scrambling” she referred to in her post-round interview) compared to the two greens that she missed on Thursday and Friday combined.

The Irishwoman has been living on the fairways and greens this week, avoiding Baltusrol’s juicy rough and treacherous bunkers, which can wipe any player out of contention at a major championship in an instant. It takes a consistent ball striker to dodge such errors, but it also takes a disciplined competitor, and that’s exactly what Maguire thinks she needs to hone in on when she tees it up on Sunday morning.

“One more day of patience. I know it’s a cliche, but I think this golf course really demands it. And just one more day of being super patient and really disciplined out there,” Maguire said.

Maguire came into the Women’s PGA on a high. At last week’s Meijer Classic she captured her second LPGA Tour victory, more than a year after her first win at the 2022 LPGA Drive on Championship. Back-to-back top 10 finishes at the Mizuho Americas Open and the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play led up to that pivotal victory.

“I felt like I’ve been playing really good golf, and it’s always great validation when you do win when you think you’re playing great golf. It’s one thing to think you’re playing great golf, but really I think the nice thing was to be able to execute down the stretch on Sunday when I needed to. I did it at Chevron to make the cut on Friday. I did it in a few of my matches in Vegas. So it was really nice that it culminated in a win last week,” she said.

Maguire has been due for a stretch of golf like the one she’s in the midst of right now. Those who are closest to the 28-year-old didn’t just hope for Leona to get to this point in her career, they knew all along that it was only a matter of time.

“I think she works incredibly hard, I think a lot of people don’t see how hard she works, the days she puts in and that’s just a testament to the player she is,” says Leona’s twin sister, Lisa, standing outside of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship scoring tent.

“She did it at each level, she did it at the amateur level, she did it in college, and now she’s going to do it on this stage. I think a lot of people have seen what she did at Solheim, how she can do on the LPGA with a couple of wins under her belt, and a major win would be the next step in her career.”

No one knows Leona and her game better than her twin, who is just fifteen minutes older than the two-time LPGA champion. Lisa played alongside Leona through junior golf in Ulster County, college golf at Duke University and professional golf in the U.S. until she retired in 2019 and enrolled in dental school. Lisa walked alongside Leona today, and the two will catch up on Saturday evening for the first time in more than a month.

Lisa also knows how much her sister’s success means to their home country. When Maguire became the first Irishwoman to compete in the Solheim Cup in 2021 and broke the all-time rookie points record with 4.5 points, she was greeted with a full-blown parade when she returned to Cavan. The country similarly erupted when Shane Lowry won the 148th Open Championship in Northern Ireland at Royal Portrush.

If Maguire wins on Sunday at Baltusrol, she’ll become the first Irish player to win a women’s major championship.

“Irish fans are some of the best fans in the world, period. Anything that Leona plays in, they’re incredibly supportive. They love Solheim, Solheim brought a reach to a lot more people in Ireland who maybe wouldn’t normally watch golf. I know everyone at home and over here, Irish or otherwise, will be backing Leona tomorrow. She’s incredibly grateful for that, and we all just want to see her do well,” Lisa says.

Maguire, however, doesn’t want to go there just yet.

“There’s a lot of business to take care of between now and then, so not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” Maguire said.

She’s right—Maguire has a slew of world class players to outlast and 18 more fairways and greens to hit before she can think about how that historic celebration would feel.

But boy would it feel good.