Golf

Leona Maguire and Anna Abom fly home flag in Women’s Irish Open

Solheim Cup hero with lots of work to do as she trails Finnish leader Ursula Wikstrom by six shots at the midway point

Leona Maguire lines up a putt at the Women's Irish Open at Carton House, Maynooth, Co Kildare. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Philip Reid at Carton House in Maynooth
Fri Aug 30 2024 - 21:51

The generation game came into play in the second round of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open over the O’Meara course at Carton House on Friday where the only Irish survivors of the midway cut were teenage amateur Anna Abom and Solheim Cup trailblazer Leona Maguire.

Maguire is 29, Abom 18. But together they stand, among those cast in the role of pursuers of Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom – a 44-year-old Ladies European Tour veteran still trying to unlock the code on how to win on tour – heading into the weekend’s final two rounds.

Wikstrom’s 36-holes total of 10-under-par 136 gave her the outright lead.

Yet Maguire, cast six shots adrift, retained hope of challenging and, notably, spent a considerable amount of time working on her putting post-round with coach Shane O’Grady in an effort to fix the only part of her game that remained out-of-sorts.

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At last week’s AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, Maguire and everyone else was buffeted by the strong winds where the requirement on slow greens and in the windy elements was to make a firm stroke. Here, she has found it difficult – so far – to find a purer putting stroke, the rhythm, for now, out of sync.

“I was just flat today, didn’t quite hit it as nicely as I did yesterday. I drove it well but didn’t quite give myself as many chances as yesterday. Again, I couldn’t really buy a putt.

“I’m struggling to read the greens a little bit but I will do a bit of work on putting this afternoon and try and make some more over the weekend,” said Maguire, playing for a fourth straight week, a run which started with the Olympics, but showing no signs of fatigue.

“There is a lot of putts have quite a bit of swing on them. It is definitely an adjustment from last week where everything was that bit firmer and straighter, whereas it is seeing a lot more break and dying it into the hole.

“It is finding that trade-off, it would be nice to hit them a bit firmer and take a bit of the break out. But at the same time there is some sneaky ones down [the slope] so it’s just about trying to match pace and line a little bit better,” she added.

Teenage amateur Anna Abom who successfully made the cut in action during the Irish Open at Carton House. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

For Abom, an Irish under-18 international and member of Edmondstown Golf Club in South Dublin, who is due to start her Leaving Certificate final year at Ashfield College on Monday it was a memorable day.

“I think it’s going to be a bit of a shock to the system!” she said of getting back to student life. She is playing the tournament on a sponsor’s invitation and has been quite the revelation.

Just last month, she took on the role of caddie as her brother Thomas won the men’s Irish Close Championship. Now, the teenager is mapping out her own pathway in the game, the only amateur to make it through to the weekend with all the seasoned professionals.

All in all, there was disappointment from the Irish contingent with just two of 13 managing to survive the cut: Maguire’s second-round 72 for four-under 142 in tied-21st (six shots behind Wikstrom); while Abom’s 71 for 143 has her in tied-36th.

Abom’s original target was to make the cut. So, any recalibration of ambitions?

“I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing. I’ve been enjoying the week as much as I can and it’s just a bonus to be able to play an extra two days,” she said.

As an amateur, Abom won’t be entitled to any of the prize money on offer – the purse is €400,000 with €60,000 to the winner – but Maguire will definitely aim to make further inroads in her bid to add the Irish Open title to her impressive career CV.

“I definitely think there is a low one out there. I am going to need two low rounds, I think. I just have to keep giving myself chances over the next two days and see what happens,” said Maguire.

“It is a case of giving myself a few more chances, hole a few more putts. I didn’t feel like I have done an awful lot wrong over the first two days, just haven’t done quite enough right. It is close. I just need things to click together.”

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times