Lauren Walsh joins LPGA Tour regulars Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow for the final major of the season as the Irish trio tee it up at the AIG Women's Open.
This year’s event has a touch more prestige attached as it is being hosted at the iconic Old Course at St Andrews, while offering a total purse of €8.1m in prize money.
Maguire is the top ranked Irish player in the field and will be hoping that a visit to the Home of Golf will bring with it some home comforts back on European soil having spent most of the season Stateside.
A tough season for the Cavan native, who has continued to watch her world ranking slip from 17th 12 months ago, compared to her current slot of 32nd.
And yet it has been a winning season for Maguire, who topped the leaderboard on her last European Tour outing, winning the Aramco Team Series in London at the start of July.
A bright spot in what has been a tough summer for the Slieve Russell star, including a rough week at the Olympics where Maguire also had to contend with a bout of the flu as she struggled to make an impact at Le Golf National in Paris.
Nevertheless, the win in London will no doubt have dealt Maguire a timely reminder of contending and winning again, while she can also draw on her best finish at a major, finishing in a tie for fourth place at the 2022 Open.
Maguire shot a final round 66 at Muirfield to finish just three shots off the winning duo, while securing the stand-out final round among the contenders at the Scottish event.
Last weekend’s tie for 61st at the Scottish Open hardly inspires confidence; however, by making the cut, Maguire enjoyed four competitive rounds in similar conditions as to what to expect this week on the Caledonian east coast.
Maguire and fellow LPGA Tour stalwart Meadow will have some interesting club choices to make as they plan for the week at St Andrews and the Olympic duo will surely recall their amateur and Curtis Cup playing days looking for inspiration for a week on the windy links.
The former world amateur number one relies a lot on hybrid clubs and only carries a seven-iron and upwards, and it looks like she will retain the confidence in the current selection, while attempting to keep the ball lower in the left to right winds.
"The hybrids have been good to me, they are just so consistent and I can play them in all conditions. They are great in the rough, great on long par threes and long par fours," said Maguire, speaking on Sky Sports ahead of the tournament.
"They are usually for high and soft (landing), especially in majors like the US Open when the greens get so firm, but they will be great this week for keeping it low in the wind, and I can hit a lot of different shots with them so there is nice versatility there versus a three and four iron for me.
"Normally I play it a bit more forward in the stance, but this week it will be shifted back a little bit with my hands a little bit more ahead especially on those into-left-to-right winds, trying to drill them in that little bit lower on those first six or seven holes.
"It's a very different challenge to what we face most weeks, a lot more wind, and last week in Scotland we got a taste of that with 30-40 mph wind, and I think more to come this week," added Maguire, while stressing that the best course of action this week was "taking the spin off the ball and try to keep it out of the bunkers".
"Hit it left, left, left on the way out and avoid the bunkers on the way in, and whoever does that the best this week will not be too far away."
Meadow has had a similarly average year in the results department and has also seen a big drop in her rankings as she has slid outside of the top 100, going from 93rd last August to her current spot at 158th.
The Jordanstown golfer has not finished inside the top 20 since early March and has missed the cut seven times during her last ten starts on Tour, including last week in Scotland.
Meadow does, however, have a tendency to raise her game at the majors and will take confidence coming into the weekend after securing her place at a recent qualification tournament.
In terms of form, it is perhaps the lesser spotted Walsh who will arrive with the most swagger of the Irish contingent as she has enjoyed a remarkable first season as a professional, with her European Tour form securing a place at the finishing major.
It is Walsh’s second major of her career, having played in the 2021 British Open, finishing tied 42nd, and the Castlewarden prospect has seen her rankings rocket over the past 12 months, moving from 867th last August to the lofty 228th place heading into this weekend’s event.
Walsh is still some distance off Meadow and Maguire in the Rolex list, however, based on her current form, she will be expected to be challenging for one of those Olympic spots by the time LA 2028 comes around.
But in the meantime, Walsh has a real chance to put down a marker this weekend and will be looking to her recent back-to-back tied third placed finishes recently at the Swiss Open and the Maguire-won London event.
Walsh also enjoyed a fourth-place finish in France, as well as a share of eighth at the German Masters in May and will be relishing her chance on the biggest stage this weekend.
Playing alongside Marta Martin and Jana Melichova, Walsh is last of the Irish trio out on the famous links at 2.16pm, while Maguire and Meadow both tee off at the same time, 12:37pm on Thursday, albeit on the front and back nine respectively.
Maguire tees it up alongside Jin Young Ko and Ashleigh Buhai, while Meadow is playing in a three-ball with Pei-yun Chien and Yuna Nishimura.
Favourites for this week’s fifth and final major of 2024 will, of course, be plucked from the top ten of the world rankings, however, world number one Nelly Korda is flying a little under the radar this week having missed three out of her last four cuts on Tour.
Korda, of course, can still draw on those six spectacular wins early in the season, where her "lowly" tie for seventh at the Cognizant prevented her from making it a magnificent seven during that remarkable run throughout the early months of 2024.
The American secured a 2024 major during that run, winning the opening Chevron Championship, but then missed the cut at the US Open and the PGA Championship – she shared 26th at the other European major, the Evian Championship in July.
Maguire’s Solheim Cup team-mates will all be looking to shine at the home major and England’s Charley Hull looks to be hitting form at the right time, while also coming close at this event last year.
Hull was edged out by American Lilia Vu at Walton Heath in 2023 and she is expecting a special week at St Andrews.
"I teed it up on the back nine yesterday morning, and as you walk down 17 and 18 you get goosebumps. It’s pretty cool," said Hull ahead of the tournament.
"Obviously it’s the home of golf. It would be a special win. Something that you’ve always dreamed of as a baby, so it would be very special."
The world number 10 is among the main marquee group this week, playing alongside defending champion Vu and aforementioned world number one Korda.
Form goes out the window a touch when it comes to the wicked combination of wind and links golf. However, one player who has the game to compete around this tough old course and has the form, in the guise of an OIympic gold medal, to challenge is New Zealand's Lydia Ko.
The former world number one took top spot on the podium in Paris sandwiched in between top ten finishes in her last two LPGA Tour events.
Two majors to her name already throughout her remarkable ten-year professional career, and she has every chance of adding the prestigious Open as she wanders over the famous Swilcan Bridge on the 18th hole this Sunday afternoon.
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