T-MOBILE MATCH PLAY PRESENTED BY MGM REWARDS

April 6, 2024

Leona Maguire

Shadow Creek

Quick Quotes

Q. All right, here with Leona Maguire after her quarterfinal round in the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards. 4&3 victory in the quarterfinals. Just take us through the round today and how were you able to have a pretty dominant performance.

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I knew I was going to have to play some pretty good golf to beat Mo this morning. She had a lot of momentum from her 5-under yesterday, which is impressive in these conditions.

Got off to a nice start. Was 2-up through 3. Holed a really nice putt for birdie on the third, which felt like a bit of a steal.

Yeah, just played steady, played solid, kept pressure on her all the way; nice to get it done on 15.

Q. You've had some really solid performances in these tough conditions; a Top 3 finish last year as well. How comfortable do you feel on this course and is that allowing you to play the way you are?

LEONA MAGUIRE: I love this golf course. I keep saying it's one of my favorites we play all year. It's such a great test. It was a little bit different this morning in that northwest wind as opposed to the southerly wind we been getting.

First few holes played very different.

It's a challenge. You just have to embrace it for what it is and take every shot and just really try and execute. And like I said, the more golf I play this week the better prep it is for Chevron in a couple weeks' time.

Q. Both you and Sei Young just seemed like you dominated your matches, but if you add up the scores you were only even or 1-over total. Does that say how difficult this course is, that you can be dominant with a pretty steady round?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I think you see the scores the past few days. I think it's a tough golf course, especially in those wins swirling; they're strong; few of the pins were a little bit trickier today.

I feel like they -- with it being match play the setup was a little tougher than it was the first three days, but ultimately you're trying to beat the golf course, but you're trying to beat whoever is in front of you.

It's just a case of trying to hit really good shots. And for me, I tried to approach it a little bit like a day four the stroke play.

I knew if I shot under par today that would probably be good enough to win, so it was just a case of trying to keep under par or as close to par as I could.

Q. I know when you're playing stroke play you step up to tees thinking this is a birdie hole. Do you step up to tees here thinking this is a par hole, I really want to make par?

LEONA MAGUIRE: On this golf course?

Q. Yeah, on this golf course.

LEONA MAGUIRE: I think you just try and hit the best shot you can. If that results in a birdie, I think you can't get too far ahead of yourself worrying about scores. It's literally not even that hole, it's that shot at a time. Judging what the wind is, what the bounce is going to do.

These holes play very different depending on where the wind, where the tee is, where the pin it, so you can't have too many preconceived notions.

It really forces you to stay in the present more so than most golf courses.

Q. You're playing Sei Young coming up in the semifinals. What can you say about her game and what kind of test will that be going up against her?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, obviously playing some great golf this week. I played with her yesterday. She played very well. Hits it out there, hits it longer than me, so I suppose I'll be hitting in it first to a lot of greens and just try and keep some pressure on her.

Obviously she's a major champion, so hopefully going to be a great match and I'm looking forward to it.

Q. I asked Angel this question about Solheim. As the lone representative from Team Europe last year in the field left, what kind of message does it send that you're really kind of dominating this golf course? You hope Suzann is watching and other members of Team US watching too?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, we had a big European Solheim dinner on Wednesday night, so it was great to catch up with everyone. I know what Suzann expects of me, so, yeah, ultimately I love match play. I like the competitiveness of it, and I'll give it my very best this afternoon and see what happens.