Leona Maguire has revealed she has suffered from illness during the Olympics golf tournament as she finished bottom of the field of those completing 72 holes.
Maguire saved some pride with a final round of one-under-par 71 at Le Golf National in Paris, for a total of 23 over for the competition.
“I’ve felt absolutely rotten the past few days. I know that wasn’t the golf I was capable of. It was one of those things where if it was any other week, I wouldn’t have played this week,” Maguire told RTÉ.
“Playing in the Games and representing Ireland, it’s one of those things you don’t give up until the very end, even if it feels it is too far gone.
“It was as much a point to prove to myself today to show that I could handle this golf course. To shoot under par around this course, I’ll take that any day.
“I’m happy how I bounced back today, hopefully some momentum for the next few weeks,” she said.
Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow had a strong weekend with a two-under-par round of 70 to finish in 39th position on six over.
“It was nice to get under par, played more solid today, I didn’t give up, it’s been a long four days after starting on six over,” Meadow said. “Proud of myself that I kept going and got some cheers from the Irish fans, which was great.”
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won gold in the women’s Olympic golf competition with a final score of 10-under-par on Saturday, completing her medal set after silver in Rio and bronze in Tokyo.
Germany’s Esther Henseleit claimed silver, finishing two strokes behind, with China’s Lin Xiyu a further shot back to take bronze.
