Four down, one to go. As August crosses its midpoint, the LPGA and Ladies European Tours are coming towards the conclusion of major season with the AIG Women's Open.
Carnoustie will play host to this year's event starting on Thursday, with crowds returning after last year's Covid-19 affected edition at Royal Troon.
On that occasion, three Irish players contested the tournament as then-amateur Olivia Mehaffey joined Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow among the field.
This time though, only the in-form Maguire will be teeing off at the 2021 Women's Open.
Meadow, who had been coming off the back of a strong performance at her second Olympics in Tokyo just a fortnight ago, suffered an injury in the lead-up which forced her early withdrawal from last weekend's Scottish Open.
Mehaffey, meanwhile, only turned pro in May and the current priority for the Co Down golfer is Stage 1 of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament at Rancho Mirage in California this week.
But Maguire, who recently completed her second Olympics alongside Meadow, won't be alone when it comes to Irish representation at Carnoustie.
Lauren Walsh arrives at the tournament in what is a busy month for the Co Kildare native. After her maiden major appearance this week, she will then compete for the Great Britain and Ireland team at the Curtis Cup against USA at Wales' Conwy Golf Club from 26-28 August.
The 20-year-old, who is honing her game Stateside on scholarship at Wake Forest University, has been rising up the World Amateur Golf Rankings, going from number 58 this time last year to 21st currently, her highest position to date.
The last year has seen her win twice back-to-back at the Women's Griffin Amateur and Sunshine State Amateur late last year and also achieve 11 top-10 finishes over the past 104 weeks.
And now she gets to tee off at a major for the first time which is undeniably exciting as she told the Golf Channel in the run-up to this week: "It's honestly mad (in a good way). The thought of playing in a major is still crazy to me."
That of course is old hat now to her Cavan counterpart Maguire who has taken another step up this year in an impressive 2021 - her second full year on the LPGA tour.
At the Evian Championship last month, just before she embarked for Tokyo, the 26-year-old achieved her best finish at a major to date as she finished in a tie for sixth. That was just five shots shy of the eventual winner Minjee Lee and it was a tournament that also saw her finish in style as she equalled the lowest round in major history with an outstanding 61.
Between majors and tour events, that's five top 10s for the year, while there were some impressive moments from Maguire at a more topsy-turvy Tokyo Olympics.
As she told RTÉ Sport after completing her final round at the Games, "there were flashes of gold medal golf in there, just not enough of it" but Olympics aside, overall it's been an impressive year for Maguire.
One of her aforementioned top 10s came with a second place finish at the Meijer LPGA Classic where she led the way initially and then remained in contention before being pipped at the post by Tokyo Olympic champion and world number one Nelly Korda.
That is the company she is keeping at the moment and will intend to vie with this week and beyond.
Indeed, she will tee off alongside a seven-time major winner Inbee Park on Thursday at 12.27pm, while in-form Yealimi Noh completes their grouped trio.
But it's Nelly Korda who goes in as favourite to win the second major of her year and career, especially off the back of winning Olympic gold.
Europe's Solheim Cup captain Caitriona Matthew, whose eye Maguire is hoping to catch at Carnoustie for a place in the upcoming team tournament, has tipped Korda for potential dominance of Tiger Woods proportions if she can maintain her current form.
"She's obviously been very impressive the last few months," she said.
"I think without a doubt she's got that potential to be dominant. She hits it long. Well, to be world number one you have to do everything well. If she can keep that form going, I don't see why she couldn't be dominant. I think it is good for women's golf to have a dominant player.
"You saw how Tiger (Woods) elevated the PGA Tour. If you have someone that becomes dominant, she starts to be known by non-golfers, which then maybe encourages them to come and watch golf. So I think it would be a good thing."
That remains to be seen but certainly from an Irish perspective, all eyes will be on Maguire and Walsh's chances of making a mark on the upper echelons of the leaderboard from Thursday.
Thursday tee times:
Lauren Walsh: 11.21am
Leona Maguire: 12.27pm
