'I’ll learn what I can from this week,' says Cavan Olympian

Leona Maguire finished her Olympic bid on a high, posting 3-under for her final 9 holes despite being out of medal contention in the final day for the Women’s Individual Stroke Play at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

The Ballyconnell native was determined to finish as high as possible on the leader board and ended out her Olympic campaign tied for 23rd.

“I mean I think it’s a week of what could have been,” said Maguire who reached 8-under par during her third round yesterday. “There were flashes of medal golf in there, just not enough of it. I’ll take the positives from it, I played a great front 9 yesterday and a great back 9 today. I kind of got it going on the back today, I figured out a few things with my driver. I just didn’t drive the ball well enough this week, got on the wrong side of a few slopes and things like that. It was a week of near misses and what could have been, but at the same time hung in well to still post a score.

“It’s not going to be your week every week,” she continued, “But at the same time I’ll finish 20-something out of the best field in golf so. It’s still early on in my LPGA career, I’ll learn what I can from this week and take it into the next two, we’ve two big weeks coming with the Scottish and Open so just keep trying to keep myself in contention and keep knocking on the door.”

Meanwhile, with a final round of 66, Stephanie Meadow secured a seventh-place finish. Meadow kicked off her final round with 6 pars before birdies on the 7th and 8th got her to 9-under par and within sight of the leading pack.

The Jordanstown native held a 25-foot putt on her 12th hole in the first round to stop herself from dropping to 4-over-par. She was 12-under for the closing 7 holes over the 4 rounds, again today adding 3 birdies on this stretch.

“It’s funny to look back on that point, that putt goes in and all of a sudden I’m 12-under so, it’s been a great week,” said Meadow who holed a 15-footer on the 18th green to finish the tournament on 12-under. “I’ve played some really good golf over the last few days. I’m really happy with that and just overall to finish top 10 in the Olympics which is something I’ll cherish forever.”

Just as Meadow was signing her card, play was suspended with three groups remaining out on the course. The leader, Nelly Korda (USA) held a one-shot advantage over Mone Inami (Japan) with 2 holes remaining while Aditi Ashok (India) and Lydia Ko (New Zealand) were tied for the bronze medal. Play resumed at 5.15am with Korda securing the gold and Inami taking silver in a play-off with Ko adding a bronze to her 2016 Olympic silver medal.