Leona Maguire says she hopes her feat of becoming the first Irish player to win a Ladies European Tour event will open the floodgates for more players from Ireland to earn success.
The Cavan native claimed a one-shot victory at the Aramco Team Series event at the Centurion Club in Hemel Hempstead on Friday to make history.
Describing her emotions at the 18th green to RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen, she likened it to a "Solheim Cup moment", harking back to her heroics from three years ago.
"It's a huge honour to represent Ireland no matter where I go, you're always trying to fly the flag as well as you can and we were close in the Buckinghamshire not too far from here with dad on the bag all those years ago, so it's nice to go one better today," she said.
"That's the first win on the LET for an Irish woman, hopefully there will be many more in the years to come."
The @Aramco_Series London champion 🏆#RaiseOurGame | #SEETheImpact pic.twitter.com/DRh6lGZUT3
— Ladies European Tour (@LETgolf) July 5, 2024
She added: "I was in my Cavan blue today I suppose as well. First LET win for Cavan, first for Ireland. There'll be a lot of delighted folks at home and hopefully we can give them plenty more to cheer."
Maguire took satisfaction in how she navigated the frustrations from earlier in the final round before finishing with aplomb.
She had been trailing clubhouse leader Maria Hernandez, who posted a seven-under par score, by a shot going down the last, but Maguire produced one of the shots of her career having come out of light rough in the centre of the fairway before sinking her putt.
"I'm incredibly proud, delighted to get it over the line. Definitely the motto of today was to stay patient and just not to give up," she said.
"Me and (caddie) Dermot (Byrne) worked hard at it today and it was nice to finish off in style and get the eagle when it really counted."
Maguire, who has two wins to date on the LPGA Tour, will represent Ireland in the women's golf tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics later this summer and expressed hope that her latest success would provide a timely boost.
"It's one of those, you practice and you practice and you hope you can pull off those shots when you really need to," she said.
"It's just one more for the highlight reel and I'm absolutely delighted to finish it off on a really high note and hopefully to give me huge momentum heading into the rest of the summer."
