Leona Maguire is backing a "gritty" Stephanie Meadow to overcome yet another hurdle in her career and salvage her LPGA Tour card in the final regular-season event in Florida this week.

Jordanstown star Meadow (29) arrives at the Pelican Women's Championship ranked 101st in the Race to CME Globe standings and with only the top 100 on Sunday keeping their cards, she must at least make the cut to avoid another trip to the Q-Series with a top 30 finish likely to be more than enough to avoid any unpleasant surprises.

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It's not uncharted territory for the two-time Olympian Meadow, who birdied her last two holes to finish tied sixth in the season-ending Volunteers of America Classic in Dallas two years ago, rolling in a 20 footer at the last to jump from 112th to 99th in the standings.

She also has good memories of Pelican Golf Club in Belleair after finishing a brilliant third behind Sei Young Kim in the inaugural Pelican Women's Championship last year.

"It's hard to ignore," Meadow said of her predicament. "But I've done a lot of hard work during the time off and I just have to trust that I put the right amount of time in on the right amount of things and hopefully it pays off and I play good.

"This year has been really hard and everybody has times out here where they wonder what they're doing and why they're doing it, and once there's that realisation that it could all be taken away, you want to fight back.

"Everybody goes through that out here. We love it, then we hate it and then we love it and then we hate it. It's just part of it."

She draws strength from her performance in Dallas two years ago and knows she does not need to produce the same kind of heroics this time around.

"I am only one point back this time, whereas before, I was a long way back, and I needed like a top seven," she said. "Yes, I don't want to be in this position, but it's not like I need an absolute top 10. I just need to play decent but being able to say that I've done it before and not collapsed is definitely a good thing. I wish I wasn't in the spot, but it is what it is."

While Meadow has had just one top 10 and missed nine cuts and withdrawn once in 20 starts, Maguire is looking to cap a sensational year by contending for a win in her penultimate start this year.

She's also pulling for Meadow, who she has known since they were small girls competing in the amateur ranks.

"I think Steph is a very gritty player and person," Leona said. "She never gives up, and she has a lot of self-belief. She played well here last year, so it's nice for her to come back to a venue she knows she's done well at. A couple of years ago, she holed that putt in Dallas to get her card. She knows what it takes, and she'll not give up.

"She has had a lot of things thrown at her in the last five or six years or so, and she has always kept a positive mindset and handled it really well.

"I think that will stand to her this week, and hopefully, she can have a good finish. It's nice to have two Irish people out here, so we'd like to keep that going for as long as possible before we can add to it a bit more."

Maguire has enjoyed a sensational season, only losing out to major winner Patty Tavatanakit in the Rookie of the Year stakes after racking up five top 10s and moving to 46th in the world.

She's 16th in the CME Globe standings, and after winning a record four and a half points out of five in Europe's incredible Solheim Cup win in Toledo, all that's left for her to achieve after two years as a rookie is an LPGA Tour win.

Coach Shane O'Grady has made the trip to see her in person in the US for the first time in two years, and Maguire is looking to push on again in 2022.

"I'm just trying to finish off the season as strong as I can and put myself in contention a few more times," said the Co Cavan star (26), who is drawn in a marquee group with Lexi Thompson and Sei Young Kim.

"I think they did that pretty well over the summer. The last few weeks haven't been quite as good or quite as consistent. My irons haven't been quite as good, so it's about getting them dialled in again.

"My putting has been good all year and I drove it well on and off, so it's just fine-tuning everything, really. There is nothing major that stands out with my technique. It's just about making everything that little bit better.

"Shane has been here the last few days. He's been trying to catch snippets off the TV at home, so it's nice that he actually gets to see me.

“Everybody goes through that out here. We love it, then we hate it and then we love it and then we hate it. It’s just part of it.”

— Stephanie Meadow on tour life

We've been doing everything on video, and I've been home a few times more this year, but it's nice for him to actually see it in reality.

So let's see if he can pick up a few things this week and stuff to bring into next year, I guess."

As for her year, the Ballyconnell star could not have asked for much more.

"I've been really happy," she said. "I've taken a really big step up from last year to this year. I got myself in contention quite a few times, and it's been consistent, which is something I've been proud of, giving myself a chance a lot of times, putting on a little bit of extra distance.

"My irons weren't good enough last year, so I've improved that a lot. I've been a lot better this year. I've also played a lot better in the majors this year, which I felt like I hadn't done.

"I had my first top 10 at the Evian (closing with a Major record-equalling, 10-under 61), and then the Solheim Cup was something that wasn't even on my radar at the start of the year.

"I wasn't that close in any of those rankings, so doing that and getting myself into the top 50 in the world all those sorts of things, I checked off a lot of boxes. "Obviously, I'd like to get a win in there sometime, so that's the next goal. Patty had a phenomenal year winning the ANA at the start of the year. That kind of gave her a pretty good headstart in the Rookie of the Year, and she played well in the rest of the majors too.

"We played college golf together and on the Symetra Tour together, so it was nice to see a few of the girls we played with making the jump and making the transition pretty well.

"As rookies, last year really helped us. We all learned quite a bit from last year, and having two years is unique. It definitely helped me anyway for sure to find my feet and figure out how things work, get more comfortable in leading groups and playing with those bigger players like Inbee, Jin Young and Nelly and not feeling out of place and out of our depth."

This week's $1,750,000 event is another chance for Maguire to shine, and after recharging in Orlando and shaking off her let-lag from last month's trip to Korea for the BMW Ladies Championship, she's looking to do well.

"The jet lag hit me pretty hard from Korea, I am not going to lie," she said with a chuckle. |It was probably the worst jet lag I have ever I've ever had. I wasn't expecting it at all.

"The course is playing a little different last year. The greens are a little bit more receptive, which is nice. Some of the greens got really firm last year and borderline hard to hold. The greens are the challenge around here - where to hit them and where to miss them - so any time you can have that extra information or knowledge can only help."

Meadow will have her fiancé outside the ropes for emotional support and caddie Scotty Leonard for inspiration inside them as she looks to play well and secure her playing rights for 2022.

"The course suits me really well," said Meadow, who is playing on a sponsors' invitation. "It gets windy, and it can be a little funky around the greens, but you've got a put it in the right place and pay attention to those things, so that plays into my game too."