Golf

Leona Maguire braced for windy St Andrews challenge as she seeks Major improvement

Difficult weather could make for a challenging AIG Women’s Open for Cavan golfer and her fellow Irish contenders Stephanie Meadow and Lauren Walsh

Charley Hull of England tees off on the 18th hole during a Pro-Am ahead of the AIG Women's Open at St Andrews Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland. Photograph: Luke Walker/Getty Images
Philip Reid
Wed Aug 21 2024 - 18:51

The subplots are many and likely to be of the winding – and windy – kind in the latest edition of the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, which has a record purse of €8 million. Solheim Cup teams are also set to be finalised at the conclusion of the championship.

Leona Maguire – one of three Irish players in the field, along with Lauren Walsh, in her rookie season, and Stephanie Meadow – is already assured of her place on Europe’s team for the match in Virginia next month. But the Cavan golfer will be aiming for an improvement in form in her quest for a breakthrough Major title.

So far this year, Maguire’s performances in the Majors have been disappointing: she missed the cut at the Chevron, the US Open and the Evian with a best finish of tied-24th in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. In addition to that, Maguire was unwell at the recent Olympics, where she finished 59th in the 60-player field.

Her last chance to make an impact in the Majors this season (there are five of them, compared to four for the men) comes on the historic Old Course, where winds are expected to exceed 30 miles per hour for the opening round.

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“There is a risk that we’ll have delays in play,” said R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers, “but we’ll deal with that. I think the best players in the world want a bit of a hard challenge. I just hope it doesn’t blow so hard that we can’t play.”

In an effort to ensure that play won’t be impeded, the R&A has watered the greens and opted for a higher cut to the putting surfaces (with the stimpmetre expected to result in slower speeds of 9) in the hope that balls won’t move and result in any suspensions of play. There is particular concern about the more exposed greens from the 10th to the 12th holes.

Maguire et al will have to deal with whatever the weather throws at them, although the winds are expected to lessen over the weekend.

This will be Maguire’s 31st career appearance in a Major and her eighth in the AIG Women’s Open, with a previous best finish of fourth at Muirfield in 2022.

For Walsh, this will be her maiden Major in a rookie season on the Ladies European Tour which has seen the 23-year-old from Kildare hit the ground running. Walsh earned her place in the 144-player field through the current form order of merit on the LET, while Meadow successfully navigated a route through the pre-championship final qualifying at Crail Links last Monday.

Nelly Korda, the world number one, has won six times on the LPGA Tour this season but has hit a rocky patch of late – with three missed cuts in a row after the sixth of those wins in the America Open – and is looking to regain that early-season form, hoping that a break to see her family in Prague will help.

Of the challenge of the Old Course and the anticipated windy conditions, Korda – who is in the same group as defending champion Lilia Vu – said: “I really enjoy it, not that I would want to play it every week. But I do really like the creative side to playing this type of golf, and [being] very, very present and not getting ahead of yourself.”

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry compete in the limited 50-player field in the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colorada, in what is the penultimate tournament of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

McIlroy’s form since his late collapse at the US Open in June has been erratic, with top-five finishes in the Scottish Open and the Olympics in stark contrast to a missed cut at the 152nd Open at Troon and a poor tied-68th finish in the 70-player field at last week’s St Jude Classic.

Currently placed fifth in the FedEx Cup standings, McIlroy will be hoping to take advantage of the weighted points on offer at Castle Pines as he seeks to close the gap on number one Scottie Scheffler. Lowry, in 11th, is also guaranteed to make it to the Tour Championship (the top 30 in the standings progress).

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times