Leona Maguire praises Rory McIlroy for constantly getting into contention at majors as she hunts maiden victory
The Cavan native uses the four-time major winner as inspiration.
Leona Maguire believes Rory McIlroy deserves credit for constantly putting himself into contention at the biggest events as she plots her own maiden major win.
The Cavan native tees it up at the Centurion Club in London this week for the Aramco Team Series Event before heading to the fourth major of the year at the Evian Championship next week.
29-year-old Maguire has struggled for form in the majors this year but has traditionally performed well in the biggest tournaments and already has three top-10 major finishes in her young career.
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To lift one of those coveted titles is the ultimate goal, but Maguire - who has The Open, Olympics, and Solheim Cup to look forward to - is aware of how difficult the task is and vows to remain patient in her hunt for major glory.
“These things take time. It would be lovely to get one knocked off early in my career, but at the same time, it’s a case of being patient and trying to build and get myself into contention as much as I can in the majors.
“We see how hard it has even been for Rory and he is one of the best to ever do it. They’re the one everyone wants to win and they’re the hardest to win for a reason. You just really need everything to click together on that week.”
On McIlroy’s heartbreaking collapse at the US Open last month, Maguire praised the Antrim star for continuously getting himself into contention at the biggest events in the midst of a 10-year drought.
“That’s golf, that’s sport. You try as much as you possibly can, play as well as you possibly can and sometimes it comes together and sometimes it doesn’t. I think you have to hand it to him, he keeps knocking on the door and I’m sure one of these days it will eventually open for him.
“But it’s one of those things where you have to put yourself in contention in order to have a chance. It’s very easy to be sitting at home or way down the leaderboard saying ‘I would have done this, I should have done that.’
“Until you are in that cauldron you don’t really know what you’re going to do, how you’re going to feel or how you’re going to play, so you have to hand it to him for getting into that position as often as he has.”
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