LOTTE CHAMPIONSHIP

April 15, 2021

Leona Maguire

Kapolei Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, Leona, another great round here in Hawaii. I was talking to your caddie. He said this is your first time here. What's it been like getting used to Kapolei Golf Club?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, it's been really fun. I was excited to come to Hawaii. I was a little disappointed we didn't come last year. It's a little like home in the wind. It was kind of tricky, especially coming in on the back nine. It was swirling all over the place. It seemed like it was a different direction on every hole.

Yeah, just played really steady. Hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of chances, and bogey-free over the first two rounds is pretty stress-free. It's nice.

Q. You say that the winds remind you of home back in Ireland. Do you feel as though you're at your best even with some of those challenging conditions?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, it's definitely tougher. Obviously it's nicer when it's flat calm. Yeah, I mean, some of the way the run-offs are around these greens and a few of the pins, you just have to pick conservative targets and just sort of take your chance from there with the putts.

A lot of greens aren't all that big, so you know if you hit the middle of the greens or are that little bit more conservative, you still give yourself a good chance with the putt.

Yeah, the greens are a little slow so it's not a bad thing to be above the hole, which is nice.

Q. Why do you think it brings out the best in your game? What did you like most about what you've been able to see here over the past two days?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I like golf courses that make you think, and I think when it gets windy there are a few more factors to consider. You have to maybe shape your shots a little bit more, whether you're going to ride the wind or hold it up into the wind and things like that.

I always like it like that, that little bit tricky. Not too tricky. But, yeah, it's nice being able to control I irons. I've been hitting my irons really nice lately, and you really have to be able to do that around here, which is sort of paying off for me.

Q. We've seen you have some impressive finishes over the last couple events. We just had a rookie win the ANA Inspiration, Patty Tavatanakit. What is it about this rookie class, do you think, that you guys, all of you kind of had that last year experience that you're more gung-ho this year?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, absolutely. I think a lot of us don't really feel like rookies. I suppose we had a lot of experience in amateur, in college golf. A lot of us sort of worked our way up together and have known each other for a long time.

I think we're just having fun and enjoying the experience of going to all these new golf courses and embracing it for the challenge that it is?

I suppose we don't -- with all the new girls on tour, we don't know any different. This is all we have ever known. We're just embracing the experience and trying to play as well as we possibly can.

Q. This is a gettable course. We've seen it from a number of players, like yourself that are towards the top of the leaderboard. What will it take to continue going low Friday and Saturday, because it's not the weekend technically?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, I suppose it always depends on the weather conditions and how much they tuck the pins.

But it's just trying to give yourself as many chances as you possibly can, good iron shots, and holing putts. Greens are a little grainy so you have to read a little bit more into them.

Yeah, so far I've been giving myself a lot of chances, so hopefully I can hole a few more putts over the next to days.