WINNING A MAJOR at Pebble Beach would be a “dream” for Leona Maguire, who has been able to turn to Graeme McDowell for advice on the famous California course ahead of the US Open.
McDowell won the US Open in 2010, and has shared his thoughts on the right “strategy” to approach the course with Maguire, who tees off tomorrow at 2.24pm local time (10.24pm in Ireland).
“I think it’s everybody’s dream to win a major, and to do it at a US Open at Pebble would be incredibly special. But I suppose there’s a lot of golf to be played between now and Sunday, so we’ll take one round at a time and try and play as well as we possibly can,” said Maguire.
Asked whether her Lake Nona, Florida neighbour McDowell had any advice on the course, Maguire said: “Yeah, I think course management is huge out here.”
She added: “G-Mac talked about hitting to certain sections on greens and things like that, a lot of strategy. He’s not the longest hitter, nor am I, so I think strategy is key when you come to a place like this.”
Maguire finished 11th two weeks at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, having led the major through 36 and 54 holes.
Some downtime in between was welcome. “I think it was nice to have a week off last week and sort of recharge and reset and be ready to go again,” she said.
The Cavan golfer will be joined at Pebble Beach by Aine Donegan, a 21-year-old amateur player from Ennis who has qualified and tees off at 3.33pm Irish time tomorrow. Maguire said the pair had already been chatting.
“I think she played a practice round with Annika this morning, so I think Annika (Sörenstam) probably had a lot more wisdom to pass on than I would yet, but it’s obviously a fantastic achievement for her to even be here to qualify, and hopefully she has a fantastic week.
“It’s obviously her first major, so it’s a pretty special one to be able to say your first major was at Pebble Beach.”
