Leona Maguire hopes she has learned a valuable lesson from her experience of leading a major championship as she bids to win the AIG Women’s Open.
The Cavan native held a one-shot lead after 36 and 54 holes of the Women’s PGA Championship at Baltusrol in June, having won her second LPGA Tour title just days earlier.
A third 69 of the week in the final round would have been enough to make Maguire the first female Irish player to win a major, but the 28-year-old could only card a closing 74 to slip into a tie for 11th.
"I think at Baltusrol I put three really good rounds together," Maguire said ahead of the year’s final major at Walton Heath.
"I think I had had seven rounds in the 60s (in succession) leading into that final day so I was playing really nice golf. The win the week before took a lot out of me. I was quite drained come Sunday and just didn’t have enough in the tank to get over the line.
"It was obviously a new learning experience, to be in that situation in the lead and the last group on Saturday and Sunday and sort of the emotions and everything that went along with that.
"I’d like to think that if I get myself in that position again, I’ll approach it a little differently and I’ll have learned from that experience."
Maguire can also draw on the experiences of her male counterparts, with the likes of three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, former Open champion Shane Lowry and 2014 Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley happy to offer advice.
"Padraig’s been quite generous with his time and his advice," Maguire added.
"(I’ve) chatted to Shane and chatted to Paul McGinley, he has been a big help as well. He was our captain at the Rio Olympics and has been a big help with advice.
"To be fair they all shared their knowledge in different ways and they have all had very different experiences and I’ve kind of leaned on all of them at different times for different bits of advice."
Looking ahead to the challenge that awaits this week at the south of England track, Maguire is expecting a completely different challenge compared to last year's Open, where she finished fourth at Muirfield.
"I think it's a very different British Open test than we've had the last few years," said Maguire.
"The golf course is soft and there's a lot of woods out there, and there will be a lot of hybrids. I played the back nine this morning, and apart from the par 5s, I think I hit one iron into the green. So it's definitely playing long and I imagine it will dry out as the week goes on hopefully and a few tees will get moved around.
"It's a very different test to Muirfield. Muirfield was a proper sort of links test, with the wind obviously the last day. We'll judge by whatever we get this week and definitely try to keep the ball in play. I think out of the bunkers and out of the heather will be the big key this week
"The greens are huge, so a lot of pace putting and stuff like that in the practise round as opposed to sort of chipping around the green and that. You're just going to have been patient and take your chances where you get them. As with any major, the par threes are tricky, so sort of take your chances on the par fives and elsewhere."
Maguire is joined in the elite field by fellow LPGA Tour player Stephanie Meadow, as well as Irish amateur Anna Foster, who secured her place earlier this week in the final qualifying tournament.
"I haven't met Anna but great achievement for her to qualify, to come through the qualifier," said Maguire, when asked had she any advice for her compatriot.
"I was fortunate to play in the British Open a few times as an amateur, and it's obviously a big experience and she'll sort of hopefully take it all in and not put too much pressure on herself.
"I would say try to enjoy it as much as she can, and hopefully she's got quite a few more of these ahead of her."
Maguire is first of the Irish trio out on the course, teeing it up alongside Anna Nordqvist and Jin Young Ko at 8:09am, while Meadow (11:54am) plays with Eun Hee Ji and Grace Kim, and Foster goes out with Lindy Duncan and Celine Herbin in the afternoon at 2:55pm.
Additional reporting by PA
