Golf

Leona Maguire and Lauren Walsh will lead strong home challenge in Women’s Irish Open

England’s Georgia Hall and Dutch woman Anne van Dam also likely to be in contention on Kildare course well suited to long hitters

Kildare woman Lauren Walsh will not be short of support at this week's Women's Irish Open. Photograph: Urs Flueeler/EPA
Kildare woman Lauren Walsh will not be short of support at this week's Women's Irish Open. Photograph: Urs Flueeler/EPA
Philip Reid
Wed Aug 28 2024 - 16:31

It’s fair to say that Lauren Walsh has already won one numbers game before the off. She’s the tour professional attached to Carton House, Fairmont resort – where the O’Meara course will provide the examination for the KPMG Women’s Irish Open this week – and, being local, the Kildare woman’s army of followers will likely outnumber anyone else’s.

Who’ll be in Walsh’s gang?

“My mam. Dad. My siblings. My grandparents. Cousins. A bunch of people from my golf club [Castlewarden] who have supported me for many years. I have some old teachers coming. My neighbours. Honestly, the whole of Kildare will be watching,” joked Walsh, a rookie on the Ladies European Tour who has hit the ground running in her maiden season with four top-10s and a couple of near misses, finishing third in the Swiss Open and the Aramco-London, which was won by Leona Maguire.

Walsh’s arrival on the professional circuit – a route pioneered so brilliantly by Maguire to the point that the Solheim Cup star is no longer a lone presence, with five Irish professionals in the field – has only confirmed a conveyor belt of talent emerging off the Golf Ireland pathway.

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Walsh’s journey to the LET came after graduating from Wake Forest and playing Curtis Cup and, like all of the top players, ultimately the plan is to join Maguire on the LPGA Tour stateside.

For now, it is all about the KPMG Irish Open on home turf, and her expectations of herself.

“I set out the start of the year that one of my big goals was to win,” said Walsh, a 23-year-old who has the asset of length off the tee and also mental fortitude. “Obviously I had some successes as an amateur, played well at Wake Forest and in Curtis Cups and that, so I knew turning pro there was a lot of girls out here who I had played in college with or played against them, so I knew I would be there or thereabouts.

“I have had a lot to get used to and adjustments to be made to the travel schedule and all the different countries we get to go to, but I knew if I could play within myself I would definitely have some chances,” she said.

Walsh is currently in 14th on the LET’s order of merit and comes into the tournament aiming to bounce back from missed cuts in the Scottish and AIG Women’s Opens. That mental strength has been shown in her season to date.

Georgia Hall. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Georgia Hall. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

“I have always had a fighting personality and I think my parents can attest to that. It is something I am constantly working on but I have always been a fiery, fighter and competitor,” said Walsh

“My coaches in college always complimented me and if there was a tough match that needed to be had I was put into that position. I like trying to bounce back because you never know what’s going to happen out there on a golf course.”

Walsh is one of a quintet of Irish professionals in the field, with Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson making their paid debuts after successful amateur and collegiate careers along with Olivia Mehaffey and, of course, Maguire.

Maguire and Georgia Hall are the two seasoned LPGA Tour winners in the field, the unquestioned headline acts. Both are playing in their final tournament before going for a “four-peat” for Europe in the Solheim Cup. It will be Maguire’s third Solheim, Hall’s fifth. But their eyes, like all, are on this week’s trophy.

“I started the season very slow and I feel like my game is on the rise and I am playing very good golf, especially my long game at the moment,” said Hall. “I’m not missing many fairways. This is definitely a big goal of mine to win here. I actually haven’t won many events on the LET [two in fact, the last being the Saudi International in 2022] and I think to win would be important to me and would mean a lot. Hopefully I’ll be in contention come the back nine on Sunday.”

The presence of five par-5s on the O’Meara course should suit Hall and other long hitters such as Anne van Dam.

Maguire is not the longest, but she is by no means the shortest either. After battling the conditions in Scotland for the past two weeks, she can get that trusty 9-wood back into her bag as the Cavan golfer aims to add to her CV of wins. She is already a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour and, thanks to her win in the Aramco-London, also one on the LET.

Of this week’s examination Maguire said: “It’s a very different test than what we’ve had the last two weeks in Scotland so just about adjusting back to seeing the ball in the air and not moving 50 yards in the air, throwing the ball closer to the hole a little bit and things like that.

“I think it’s a very fair golf course, there’s some tricky holes and there’s some holes that are really good birdie chances.”

Maguire, the tournament’s poster girl and the trailblazer for Irish women’s golf, will aim to play that role on the course in her quest for glory.

Leona Maguire at Carton House, Fairmont on Tuesday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Leona Maguire at Carton House, Fairmont on Tuesday. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho
Lowdown

Purse: €400,000 (€60,000 to the winner).

Where: Maynooth, Co Kildare.

The course: The O’Meara course at Carton House, Fairmont – 6,485 yards, par 73 – was designed by two-time Major champion Mark O’Meara. There are five par-5s on the layout, including two of the last four holes, which should favour the longer hitters. The signature hole, however, is the par-3 16th, which is played entirely across water from tee to green.

The field: Solheim Cup stars Leona Maguire and Georgia Hall are the headline acts – both will be involved in the defence of the trophy against the USA in Virginia in a fortnight’s time – while there are seven players who have won on the LET this season among the 132 players competing.

Quote-Unquote:

“Leona has definitely got the game to become a Major champion for sure. Her mentality is second to none. I think she is one of the strongest players mentally out there. Her short game is fantastic, one of the best chippers of the ball I have seen. It wouldn’t surprise me if she won a Major in the next three years. I think golf is a bit up and down in general for all of us and I think if she has her week there is no reason why she can’t win.” – Georgia Hall on Leona Maguire’s major ambitions.

Irish in the field: A record 13 Irish players – five professionals, eight amateurs – provides numerical evidence of the ever upward trajectory of women’s golf, with Maguire the main act. Olivia Mehaffey (8.12am), Annabel Wilson (8.12am), Anna Foster (8.36am), Kate Dillon (9am), Emma Fleming (9am), Róisín Scanlon (1.12pm), Lauren Walsh (1.36pm), Maguire (1.48pm), Aideen Walsh (1.48pm), Kate Lanigan (2pm), Anna Abom (2.24pm), Olivia Costello (3pm) and Canice Screene (3pm) make up the large home contingent.

Betting: No surprise that the two main acts feature at the business end of the betting: Hall is the market leader at 4-1, with Maguire worth a look at 7-1. Van Dam is a long hitter and might believe some redemption is in order after last year’s narrow loss and is priced at 20-1 while Walsh is 33-1. Gabriella Cowley is worth an each-way look at 40s.

On TV: Live coverage on RTÉ News and Sky Sports+ from 4pm.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times