KROGER QUEEN CITY CHAMPIONSHIP PRESENTED BY P&G

September 19, 2024

Leona Maguire

TPC River's Bend

Quick Quotes

Q. Okay, here with Leona Maguire after her first round at the Queen City Championship. Leona, got off to a good round today. What were you feeling good about today and with your game this afternoon?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, felt like I played really solid, gave myself a lot of chances. Hit a lot of fairways, greens. It's a nice golf course. I mean, reminds me a little bit of home. I always enjoy coming back to the Midwest.

It's crazy that I haven't played an LPGA event in the States since Sahalee, so it's nice to be back.

Yeah, a lot of fun at the Solheim Cup last week, and trying to bring that sort of the mindset and energy into this week.

Q. Yeah, after last week you had a great singles match to finish the week off. How much did even the loss fire you up to come out here and have a good week?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I mean, Solheim is always one of my favorite weeks. It was a lot of fun with the team. We had a lot of fun.

There hasn't been a lot of the fun in my golf this summer it seems like, so it was nice to have that last week, so bring more of that into sort of this back end of the season. Trying to be a bit kinder to myself and enjoy my golf a little bit more.

Yeah, like you said, build off the momentum of last week. Last couple of Solheims I've played five matches; been exhausted after the Solheim, so nice to be a little bit fresher this time round.

Q. You mentioned it, it's challenging I think to give yourself grace when you're used to performing at such a high level. How have you managed to do that or learned to do that?

LEONA MAGUIRE: I'm getting better. It's hard. Obviously nobody has higher standards for myself than I do. You put in an awful a lot of work, and when the results don't show it is frustrating.

It was nice to be back in Europe for a bit and surrounded by friends and family. I have a great team around me at home, so been leaning on them quite a bit over the last few months.

I know I have the game to do it. It's just a case of believing in myself a little bit more. Nice to see some results lately.

Q. Made that eagle out there today. Walk us through that on 6.

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, it was a nice. I laid it up to like 75 yards, which is a good yardage for me. Just, yeah, sort of couple of bounces and rolled in, which is always nice. Always a bit of a bonus to pick up an eagle on a par-5, especially when you don't hit it in two.

Q. Next hole, made a birdie right after that, which is sometimes hard to keep the momentum going when you have the hole-out. What was that hole like after?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, par-3s I feel like are always sort of a strength of mine, so it's always nice to pick up a two. The par-3s out here are tricky actually with quite a bit of water.

Yeah, just a nice sort of three quarter 7-iron in there to about 12 feet; nice to see that one drop.

Q. This is a pretty watery golf course compared to what we typically see out here. Does that cause you to mentally shift or get more specific with your targets?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Yeah, I thought it played quite long in the practice round, so there was a lot of hybrids and nine woods over the water for me; today they moved up a few tees, which was nice, so a lot shorter irons going in.

Even though the pins were a little bit tucked in places, you could be a bit more aggressive. Early on the greens are quite soft. Even though there was water there you had to be a little bit more aggressive and just commit to those targets.

Q. How do you build on this?

LEONA MAGUIRE: Just more of the same. I think everybody is going to want to go to low this week. Just kind of trying to give myself lots of chances, make as many birdies as possible.

Yeah, I mean, I had a fun group today. It was nice being out there with Grace and Anna, both good friends of mine. We kind of had good energy in the group. Nice for all of us to be under par. Enjoy another round with them tomorrow.