MEIJER LPGA CLASSIC

June 20, 2021

Leona Maguire

Blythefield Country Club

Quick Quotes

Q. (Regarding Nelly saying Leona is a solid player.) When you hear that kind of praise from your peers, does it give you a little more confidence in what you're doing?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, absolutely. Nelly is one of the best players in the world and went toe to toe with her pretty much all of today. I knew it was going to be a battle. I knew I had a lot of golf in front of me and she had a three-shot head start.

Yeah, this week is going to be huge heading into a major. I knew I was playing some great golf. It's a huge confidence boost for the rest of the season.

Q. You succeeded at every level which you played, now at the highest level, you're able to bring some of your best stuff. (Indiscernible).

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I'm really proud of how I played all week. Hit some great golf shots when I needed to do. I also got off to a really nice start, which I have been doing, and backing it up with three more solid rounds after that.

Really proud of how I fought this week, and same in San Francisco last week. Just didn't give myself quite enough in the end.

Nelly is a great player and very proud of myself.

Q. Leona, what a great four rounds here at Meijer this week. Just how was it overall in your words?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, really, really proud of how I played this week. Played great in San Francisco last week and was trying to build on that momentum this week.

Got off to a great start and just built on that every day. Yeah, I knew I would have a fight on my hands against Nelly today, but proud of how I hung in there and didn't give it to her easy and made her fight all the way for it.

Q. How was that in the final round going toe to toe and competing with Nelly?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Nelly is a great player and one of the best players in the world for a reason. It was great to be able to test my game against her.

I'm really starting to feel like I belong out here. Even though it's still my rookie year, I'm feeling more and more comfortable every week. My first time in the last group going into the final round, and really proud of how I managed that.

You just never know how you're going to react until you're in that situation. Really proud of how I handled it.

Q. If you seemed nervous, you did not look like it at all, even on the last putt. How was that with all the fans out here, most fans since like the past year?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, it was great having people out there cheering when you holed a putt, when you hit a good shot. I think Nelly definitely had a lot more support than I did, but I kind of knew that.

But I had a lot of messages from back home wishing me well. It was great to have the support out there. Yeah, I mean, tried to make eagle on the last, give the putter as good a run as I could. Yeah, I mean, really, really solid golf and looking forward to next week.

Q. Have you ever played Atlanta Athletic Club?

LEONA MAGUIRE: I have not, but heard really good things so I'm excited.

Q. Last one. KPMG next week, more support there, especially after this week. Are you excited about just competing in a KPMG Women's Championship?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I feel like this week has been really good prep going into a major. Obviously going to be a bit of a different golf course.

Probably a few little bit longer than this week, but really happy where my game is at. I hit a lot of fairways and greens this week and putted pretty nice as well.

All in all, my game is in really good shape and I feel like this was really good preparation heading into a major week.