Maguire looks to positives after tame exit in Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play

Leona Maguire

Leona Maguire was looking on the bright side after falling 2&1 to Japan's Ayaka Furue in the semi-finals of the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play in Las Vegas.

The Solheim Cup star did not have her A-game at Shadow Creek, and while she won four of the first seven holes to go two-up, Furue turned the match around without needing much in the way of fireworks.

The 2022 runner-up levelled matters by the 10th and had enough with one-over-par figures over the next seven holes to claim her place in the final.

"Yeah, just didn't have my best stuff today," Maguire said. "I think a couple of costly bogeys on the back nine.

"But, you know, Ayaka played solid. She basically played the way I played the rest of the days. Didn't really do anything wrong.

"I just didn't hole the putts when I needed to. Overall it's been a good week."

She admitted she simply didn't put herself in a position to attack and hadn't the ammunition to fight back against the 2022 runner-up when she fell behind.

"I kind of put myself in a few wrong spots that I couldn't be aggressive and had to play safe," she said. "I was trying to play for pars instead of giving myself birdie chances.

"I think that caught up to me on the back nine."

Looking forward now to this week's Mizuho Americas Open in Jersey City, she added: "There has been a lot of golf this week, a lot of good golf. I'll take the positives from it.

"I think this is one of the toughest courses we play all year, so I played some really, really good golf around a really good, tough golf course.

"So try and bring that momentum into next week."

Furue faced Thailand's Pajaree Anannarukarn, a 3&1 semi-final winner over Sweden's Linn Grant,  in last night's decider.

"I'm totally satisfied with my play today," Furue said after her win over Maguire. "But honestly, luckily she has some mistakes so, yeah, I was kind of lucky today.