Memories of 2011 'an inspiration' for Leona

Golf

Leona Maguire hopes to see the Solheim Cup return to Ireland after she played another starring role for Europe as they retained the trophy.

Leona and twin sister Lisa were present at the 2011 renewal in Killeen Castle as 16-year-old amateurs and has had an affinity with the event ever since – and even hinted that she might like to captain Europe there in the future, too.

“Yeah, I mean, with the Ryder Cup in a few years, it will be fantastic to see,” she said at the post-tournament press conference.

“Suzann and I were talking on the range this morning. I have vivid memories of Killeen Castle in 2011. These shirts remind me of that, and I think we all got a little bit of inspiration from that. It would be fantastic. I know there’s a few golf clubs interested in Ireland, and then, yeah, who knows if it’s the right time to play, or, yeah, maybe captaining there one day might not be too bad.”

This year’s renewal, the 18th, was the first tie in the history of the event but Europe retain the title. It is already regarded as a classic, with Europe storming back from an early deficit.

The host nation’s Carlotta Ciganda sealed the crucial point to secure the title after a superb week when she won all four matches but Maguire’s performance was right up there.

She defeated Rose Zhang to secure Europe’s first full point (the highlight of which was a 50-foot eagle putt on 14 to secure at least a half-point) but the USA were still hot favourites.

Four of the last five Solheim Cups have gone right to the wire, including this first tie, which makes it one of the most fiercely-contested team events in professional golf. From 2024 onwards, the event will switch to even years which means there will be another edition in just 12 months’ time.

“The Irish fans were incredible this week,” Maguire said.

“There was so many flags, so many cheers. I know we were in Spain, but it felt like we were in Ireland at a certain point. Just the support, this is a week I’ll never forget. ”

“Yeah, I mean, I think I wanted to go out early,” she admitted, in reference to playing in match 2.

“It was nice to get blue on the board early. When I finished, it was looking really good and then it wasn’t looking so good and then back good again.

“The girls were incredible this week. It was a fantastic team, and we couldn’t have asked for a better captain. It was, I think, very fitting that Carlota was the star of the show this week and got to hole the winning putt.”

On a difficult, hilly course, Maguire, Emily Pederson and Linn Grant were the only trio to play all five matches.