It’s no secret that Leona Maguire’s 75% win rate in her two Solheim Cup appearances has been largely down to her ability to hole putts, when it comes to being the best putter in the women’s game Maguire would be in the conversation.
But something has gone awry for Maguire on the greens this season and she is on course to finish outside the top-10 in putts per green for the second straight year while she is also 49th in putting average on the LPGA Tour this term.
That form, or lack of on the greens has continued at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open while despite missing just five greens over the first three days she has taken over 90 putts having failed to marry her superb long game with the flat stick.
Solheim Cups are about putting. Putting wins Solheim Cups, it’s what has made Maguire a woman to be feared in the contest whenever she steps onto the putting surfaces in European blue.
The Cavan woman hasn’t been able to buy a putt this week and went straight to the putting green after Friday’s round with her coach Shane O’Grady to iron out some tweaks and she is confident she will be rolling the ball confidently at the Solheim Cup in a fortnight.
“I don’t think it’s a million miles away, I feel like I am hitting nice putts, a lot of them are burning edges I have next week to figure that out, it’s something minor. The rest of my game is in as good a shape as it has been for a number of months,” explained the 29-year-old.
If Maguire is feeling fatigued after a hectic run of golf, she isn’t showing it, nor is she using it as an excuse for a frustrating week at the €400,000 Carton House event.
Once she finishes her week on Sunday with what will hopefully be a momentum boosting low round from her point of view, she will return home to rest and work on her game before heading Stateside next Sunday lunchtime for her third Solheim appearance.
“Take it easy for a couple of days it has been a long four week stretch, it’s been a big four week stretch with the Olympics and getting battered in the rain in Scotland so take it easy for a couple of days and a bit of fine tuning before Solheim, we fly out Sunday lunchtime and there is still a lot of build up before Friday comes along at Solheim Cups so sort of time to fine tune, no panic stations.
“Finish off tomorrow first, try and shoot as low as we possibly can. Ultimately Solheim Cup is about holing putts and playing well in those pressure moments so try and give myself some momentum tomorrow.”