Maguire twins hit the ladies tour in Portugal
Leona Maguire is used to rubbing shoulders with the top pros. Picture hered with Graeme McDowell during the 2008 Ryder Cup at Valhalla. Credit: golffile.ieTeen twins Leona and Lisa Maguire will be gunning for glory on Ladies European Tour today.
Leona, 16, was invited to play in the ISPS Handa Portugal Ladies Open at Campo Real near Lisbon as the reigning Portuguese Ladies Amateur Open champion.
But the Cavan sensation also succeeded in getting an invitation for her twin sister Lisa for what will be their fourth start in a professional tour event.
Leona said: “It’s a very nice country. I really like the courses over here and this week, the course isn’t too dissimilar to the one I won on in January. The weather is quite nice and I really like the course so hopefully Portugal is good to me again.
“I’ve played well all season this year so hopefully I can keep that going. I’m pretty happy with my game so we’ll drop a few putts and see what happens.”
After missed cuts in their previous pro starts in the 2009 Ladies Irish Open and the 2007 Northern Ireland Ladies Open, Lisa tied for 40th in last year’s Ladies Irish Open at Killeen Castle with Leona sharing 49th.
Lisa added: “It’s a great opportunity. We always love coming to play a pro event because it’s a totally different experience and to be able to play with some of the best players in Europe is pretty amazing. Hopefully we can play our best this weekend and see where it goes.
Leona has a first round tee time of 9am and will play from the 10th with professionals Line Vedel of Denmark and Australian Kate Combes on Friday. Lisa will play with England’s Holly Aitchison and Denmark’s Lisa Holm Sorensen from the first at 9.20am.
Lisa and Leona appear to be of a similar standard, currently lying in second and third place on the European PING Junior Solheim Cup Team Ranking respectively.
They hope to make their second appearance on the European team when the PING Junior Solheim Cup is played at Knightsbrook on September 20-21.