DANA OPEN PRESENTED BY MARATHON

September 1, 2022

Leona Maguire

Highland Meadows Golf Club

Quick Quotes

Q. Here with Leona Maguire. Last time we saw you in Toledo, I mean, you were dominating. But, hey, another good memory here. Nice little way to open up your week here, 5-under. Just walk me through your round out there.

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, played really solid. Gave myself lots of chances and had a nice birdie on 13 to sort of get it going and then 18 to make the turn. Kind of built on that momentum then and had a couple in a row, 3, 4, and, yeah, putted nicely. Gave myself lots of chances.

Overall pretty solid day. Any time you go bogey-free, it's a bit nicer of a day.

Q. Can't complain too much about that. Highland Meadows, golf course I'm sure your familiar with. But was there anything different for you this year? Did you figure out green complexes? Hitting the ball straighter? Was anything that really has been working so well?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, drove it pretty nice today on the holes I needed to. Missed a couple fairways. Had a few nice up and downs out of the bunkers.

The greens here aren't very big, so you hit greens you have a lot of chances. I actually have a new set of irons in the bag this week, so, so far so good.

Q. Are those new specs or just a fresh set of what you already play...

LEONA MAGUIRE: Brand new, and it's not like me to change. I've been home for a couple weeks, did some testing while I was home. So, yeah, the new Ping 230s are in the bag this week.

Q. What was the mindset behind that change? I know a lot of players get comfortable and don't want to switch up this late in the season.

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, I hit them, I liked them, they felt good in practice, so figured it was as good a time as any to give them a test go.

So, yeah.

Q. We were just talking about it, we haven't seen you since Dow maybe, maybe a little bit longer. It's been a long time you've been over in Europe. How good has it been to spend some time at home, get some time to test and play with your bag?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I loved the summer. It was nice. It was probably the most time I've spent at home in quite a while. Nice to be home. My whole family was home. Mom and dad and Lisa got to go to the British and my brother came to the event in Northern Ireland, so it was one of the first times in a long time that the whole family was able to come watch me and then actually spend some time at home.

Sort of nice to get that refresh and go again for the sort of last end of the season.

Q. I mentioned it off the top, again, last time you were here, different event, different style. You were on the scene but really kind of burst in the forefront of the golf world. Do you drive around Toledo or have any good memories or maybe some questionable memories?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, it's always nice to come back to somewhere that you know you have good memories. I've signed a few Solheim pin flags and balls this week, which is nice. I actually played here as an amateur when I was still in college, so it's nice to start coming back to places where you've been before.

Yeah, the people here are always so friendly and so nice. This golf course reminds me a lot of home. It's quite tree lined. It's a little smaller, a little smaller greens, so it feels quite familiar here, yeah.

Q. Player here as an amateur, were you one of the Marathon exemptions that were given out at Nationals? There were a couple players here that got those. What did that mean to you that early in your career when you were looking at going pro and even just being competitive in college?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, it was a big learning experience for me. It was one of my first LPGA events at that point, and sort of got a taste of what it meant like week in week out. Sort of had to grind. I think I missed the cut by one and was incredibly disappointed. So it was definitely a big sort of learning week for me in that regard.

Yeah, I mean, gave me plenty to sort of work on for the rest of that summer heading into when I went back to college at Duke.

Q. And obviously things have changed now, but heading into the rest of the week, 5-under, one or two back, we've still got some golf out on the course, but good start. You look refreshed. You feel refreshed. What's the mindset heading into the rest of the week?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, more of the same I think. I think it's the kind of golf course you can go low, so just kind of have to hit lots of fairways, lots of greens, and hope the putter behaves as well as it did in Toledo last time round.