“We were faced with very tough opposition, and she had certain stats and people she employed this year that felt that other people were better choices, and that’s ultimately the choice they made.
“We’ve had discussions since. Some things we agree on, some things we don’t, but there’s absolutely no animosity, no bad blood.
“The way we left it was she said to me that she thought I was the one to carry the torch going forward for the European team, and she’d be there on the on the sidelines, cheering us on. So there was a lot more made of it than what it was.”
While she won the Aramco Team Series-London and her first LET title with a clutch eagle at the final hole, Maguire recorded just one top 10 on the LPGA Tour and finished 58th in the rankings, which was her worst performance in the US since she finished 59th in her COVID-affected rookie season in 2020.
But while she missed the cut in three of the five majors, finished second last in the Olympics due to illness and surprisingly split with her caddie Dermot Byrne in mid-season, the Ballyconnell star was looking at the positives.
“Even though it maybe wasn’t as good a year as I’ve had in the past, it was still full of a lot of great golf, and I still made my way to the Tour Championship at the end of the year,” she said.
“I feel like I worked harder this year than I have any other year, and it just it didn’t quite show in the results. But at the same time, I know it’s close; I know it’s in there.
“I know what I can do under pressure when I need to, like what I did in London, and I suppose if this year is the worst it gets, I don’t really have much to complain about.”
Maguire is one of the more intense characters on the LPGA Tour, especially wehen it comes to practice.
But while she admitted she’d been working on the mental aspect of the game since her summer split with Byrne after two and a half years together, she refused to elaborate on the reasons for the break up.
“I think people that are involved know the reason behind it, and Dermot is not here to talk for himself,” she said.