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Duke women's golf star Leona Maguire cruises to Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship victory

<p>Rising senior Leona Maguire added to her accolades, becoming the second Blue Devil in the last three years to win the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship.</p>

Rising senior Leona Maguire added to her accolades, becoming the second Blue Devil in the last three years to win the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship.

After being crowned as the ACC individual champion in April and coming up just one shot short of a chance at an NCAA title last month, Leona Maguire was rolling.

And this week at the Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in Bridgend, South Wales, the world's top female amateur golfer stayed right on track.

With a 3-and-2 victory against Ainhoa Olarra in the final Saturday afternoon, Maguire captured first place at the 114th Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship. The win is the most notable in her young career and gives Maguire automatic spots in this year's U.S. and British Women's Open tournaments.

“It was a great match all day,” Maguire said. “I knew that Ainhoa was going to push me to the very end and she did that with some birdies down the stretch, especially with that putt she holed on 15. We played some great golf today and it’s just nice to come out with a win at the end.”

Following 36 holes of stroke play to cut the field down to 64, Maguire made quick work of her first three opponents to advance to the quarterfinals. The Cavan, Ireland native won her first match 5-and-4 before taking the next two, each by a score of 7-and-6—she chipped in from 40 feet out on the 12th hole to close out her round of 16 contest.

From there, Maguire faced fellow Irishwoman, Paula Grant, who finished atop the leaderboard in the stroke-play portion of the tournament. But the rising senior never trailed, holding a 2-up advantage after nine holes and staying strong down the stretch to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

Finland's Anna Backman could not slow Maguire down in the morning matchup, either. Maguire cruised to a 3-and-2 victory, with Olarra knocking off Norway's Stina Resen to set up the final match of the tournament.

With a birdie on the first hole against Olarra, the Blue Devil star set the tone and never let up. She held as large a lead as four through 12 holes before her Spanish opponent closed to within two on the 15th.

Maguire ultimately closed the match on 16 with a two-putt par, becoming the second Duke standout to win the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship in the last three years—former Blue Devil Celine Boutier captured the crown in 2015.

“This is definitely one that I wanted to check off my list before I turn pro,” Maguire said. “There are some great names on that trophy and it’s great to be joining them.”

Maguire's Duke teammate and rising sophomore Ana Belac also participated in the event, bowing out in her round of 64 match. And Leona's twin sister, Lisa Maguire, failed to make the match-play cut after she shot 13-over-par in the two stroke-play rounds.

Maguire will now prepare for the next two majors on the LPGA circuit. The U.S. Women's Open will take place at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., July 13-16, before the Ricoh Women's British Open gets underway at Kingsbarns Golf Links in Fife, Scotland, Aug. 3-6.


Mitchell Gladstone | Sports Managing Editor

Twitter: @mpgladstone13

A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak." 

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