Áine Donegan hopes to strut her stuff in the KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Dromoland Castle next month after her impressive performance in the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.

The Co Clare amateur (21) was one of the revelations of the championship for the quality of her play and her charming yet down to earth personality.

She was emotional at the finish as she battled a cold and missed out on the leading amateur honours after a closing 77.

Scores

But she knows she has the game to consider a professional career when she graduates from LSU in 2025 after playing a starring role at Pebble Beach all week.

“Yeah, very emotional,” Donegan said after she narrowly failed to birdie the last despite having driven onto the rocks.

She chipped back into play, then hit a great 163-yard third to 11 feet only to come up short with the putt that would have given her a spot at the trophy presentation.

Instead, she finished tied 45th on nine-over, just a shot behind Italian amateur Benedetta Moresco and just two shots behind Leona Maguire. 

“Today was a long day,” Donegan said after an emotional embrace with her supporters at the gallery ropes. “I'm fighting a bit of an illness at the moment. Woke up feeling horrible and I didn't have much energy, to be honest.

“Finally got up-and-down on 17 and then to hit one out of the seaweed onto the fairway and then hit a shot into that -- I mean, if you'd told me looking at my drive coming off 18 with a par I'd be taking it.

“But no, feeling very, very thankful right now to have my friends here and just everyone who's out here supporting me.”

It was an unforgettable if gruelling week that confirmed in her mind that she has the game to turn professional when she graduates. 

“I couldn't have asked for a better week,” said the Lahinch star, who learned the game at Woodstock in her native Ennis. 

“My goal was to make the cut and then obviously today is disappointing, but I'm coming off a long stretch of events, and unfortunately today I didn't feel great yesterday, and I knew I was getting a bit sick, and then today I have no energy and a bit of a cold and stuff.

“So happy with how the week went, and I can't thank the USGA and all the fans enough for everything, really. And my coach Gary (Madden) from Glenlo Abbey and everyone at home as well supporting me.”

Hawaii’s Allisen Corpuz claimed the title and her first LPGA win when she closed with a nerveless 69 to win by three strokes on nine-under-par from Korea’s Jiyai Shin (68) and England’s Charley Hull, who made the only other significant charge of the day with a superb 66.

Maguire had hoped to make a move, but she followed nine straight pars with four dropped shots in four holes after the turn and also shot 77 to finish 16 shots behind Corpuz in tied 31st on seven-over.

The new champion was a popular winner, but Donegan certainly captured the crowd's imagination, especially on Saturday when she charged into a tie for fifth after seven holes only to make a quintuple bogey nine at the eighth.

That she recovered to card a 75 won her many fans and while she was disappointed with her final round, she will only gain in confidence from this performance.

“Probably that I played with a lot of different pros, and probably that it's more -- my ball-striking would be probably on par with them and stuff, and my putting is probably more just decision making and less kind of silly mistakes,” she said of the lessons learned.

“I made a double bogey today from just a stupid shot out of the bunker. That would be what I've learned. I've learned a lot. 

“I've learned that these tournaments are tiring, definitely. I admire the pros more after that, after this week, for how much they travel and just how exhausting it actually is. That would be the biggest thing.”

As for the pro game, she’s in no hurry to take that step.

“No, I'm going to finish college,” she said. “No doubt about it. I love LSU, and it wouldn't even cross my mind.”

That said, she may yet play two more professional events this year.

“I have a final qualifier for the AIG Women’s Open, and then I have the Irish Open at Dromoland Castle hopefully. If they give me an invitation. I got invited last year, so hopefully that again this year. And it's only 10 minutes from my house, which will be very nice.

“The Irish is on probably the second week of college, so I think my college coach is going to let me stay at home for that, and I'll just go to school a bit later.”

As for world number 10 Maguire, she was never quite at the top of her game over the weekend and will be back in action this week at the Aramco Team Series in London.

“I felt like I played some really good golf, hit some really nice shots,” Maguire said

“Overall, it was a really tough test, and for the most part, I played pretty well.”

She had no advice for Donegan but to enjoy her moment.

“Yeah, she's had a fantastic week, obviously,” she said. “It's one of those once-in-a-lifetime weeks, obviously, so hopefully, she can enjoy it as much as she can.”

It was an even more memorable week for Corpuz, who started the day a shot behind Japan’s Nasa Hataoka but hardly put a foot wrong in the final group.

They were level heading down the back nine before Corpuz (25) birdied three of the first six holes coming home and Hataoka went backwards, covering the back nine in 40 for a 76 that left her tied for fourth with halfway leader Bailey Tardy on three-under.

“Every few holes, I just kind of looked out and said, I'm out here at Pebble Beach,” said Corpuz, who had led through three rounds before finishing fourth in the Chevron Championship earlier this season.

She banked $2 million for her maiden win and explained how she remained so calm.

“There's not many places that are better than this,” she said. “Really just tried to stay grounded and keep playing my game.

“My coach told me this morning, no one is going to give it to you, and I think I've just played a little conservatively in the past and I just really went out there and told myself I had the game to do it today.”