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Leona Maguire might not have been the most well-known member of Team Europe entering the Solheim Cup, but is now a household name after leading Europe to a 15-13 win, going 4-0-1 in five matches. The 26-year-old old from Ireland began her journey in golf at the age of nine and played in her first amateur event on March 17, 2005. At the age of 11, Maguire came in third place in the under-12 World Golf Championship at Pinehurst.

On May 6, 2007, Maguire became the youngest winner of the Hermitage Ladies Scratch Cup. She also won five other amateur events and was runner-up once. At the age of 13, Maguire won the French Under-18 International title and defended the Hermitage Ladies Scratch Cup. She beat her twin sister Lias in the finals of the Lancome Irish Ladies Close Championship only to fall to her two months later. Both Leona and Lisa were selected to the European Junior Ryder Cup Team which lost to USA On September 17. Leona shared Women’s Amateur of the Year at the AIB Irish Golf Writers’ awards for 2008.

Maguire continued to impress at the amateur ranks in 2009, becoming the youngest player to win the Helen Holm Scottish Women’s Open Amateur Stroke Play Golf Championship at the age of 14. Maguire also became the youngest player, along with her sister, to represent Great Britain and Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy. She once against was selected for the Junior Solheim Cup Team.

On April 5, 2010, Maguire won the French Under 21 Open for the second straight time. She also became the youngest player at age 15 to represent Great Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup. Continuing to make history, she became the youngest match play qualifier at the British Ladies Amateur. At the end of the season, Maguire was recognized for her play over the year with the European Ladies’ Amateur Golf Rankings silver medal.

Maguire began the 2011 season with a blistering 15-shot win at the Portuguese International Ladies Amateur Championship. In June she won all three of her matches in the Vagliano Trophy and I August became the youngest player to win the Ladies’ British Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship. In September, Maguire and her sister were named to the Junior Solheim Cup team. The following April, Maguire became the first Irish golfer to win the Irish Girls Open Strokeplay Championship. Two months later, she won the Irish Women’s Close Amateur Championship for the second time.

The highlight of the 2013 season was a win at the Hermitage Scratch Cup in Dublin. The following year, Maguire earned top scholastic honors at Loreto College before leaving to attend Duke University. By May of 2015, Maguire was ranked 1st in the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings, where she would stay for an entire year. As a freshman at Duke, Maguire won the ACC Championship, named to the ACC All-Star Team and was named ACC Freshman of the Year and ACC Player of the Year. During the summer following her freshman year, Maguire played in the Vagliano Trophy and also nearly won the ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters as an amateur, finishing second. She was also invited to play in The Evian Championship, finishing as low amateur.

Maguire continued her stellar play at Duke in 2016, named ACC Women’s Co-Golfer of the Month for February and was selected to for the WGCA All-Region squads for the second straight year. She also earned WGCA All-American first team. During the summer, Maguire was part of the Great Britain and Ireland team that defeated the USA in the Curtis Cup. In addition, she was named to Golfweek First Team All-American for the second straight year.

Late in the summer of 2016, Maguire teed it up at the Ricoh Women’s British Open, finishing top as top amateur and 25th overall. After a brief slip in the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings, Maguire was back on top and would remain until February of 2018, for a total of 135 weeks. She was top amateur at the Rio Olympics, finishing 21st with a two-under par total of 282.

Maguire started the 2017 year with her fifth collegiate win at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. Her second win of the year was at the LSU Tiger Classic in late March. In seven events over the 2016-2017 season, Maguire placed in the top-three six times. He six titles tied Brittany Lang and Lindy Duncan for most in school history. In addition, Maguire won the ACC Championship for the second time and was named ACC Women’s Golfer of the Year and All-ACC Women’s Golf Team for the third straight year.

The accolades continued for Maguire, who became the first player to win the Annika Award twice. In June of 2017, Maguire won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship and two weeks later was names Golfweek National Player of the Year award for the second time. In addition, she became only the second golfer in history to win both the WGCA Player of the Year and the Edith Cummings Munson Gold Award in the same season.

Maguire began the 2017-2018 collegiate golf season by posting a three-round total of 200, which was good enough to win the Jim West Challenge. Her 13-under par total was a tournament record, helping the school set a team scoring record in the event. In October, Maguire got the European Ladies’ Amateur Golf Rankings gold medal for the third consecutive year. At the end of October, Maguire finished 9th at the LPGA Qualifying Tournament, qualifying for the Symetra Tour for the 2018 season.

Concluding her amateur career with a bang, Maguire was named as the Irish Golf Writers’ Women’s Amateur of the Year for 2017, marking the fourth time she’s won the award. On April 14, 2018 Maguire broke the all-time ACC record for most pars of even or better with 80. Three weeks later she broke the all-time record for most ACC Golfer of the Month awards with nine. A day later, she was named ACC Women’s Golfer of the Year for the third time. Her scoring average of 70.97 was the best in NCAA history for any female player who played at least 100 rounds.

On 9 June, Maguire was selected to Golfweek First Team All-America for the fourth season in a row. On 13 June, Maguire selected on the CoSIDA Academic All-America® Women's At-Large Team for the second year in a row with a Grade Point Average of 3.94 or A. On 20 June, Maguire was named the ACC Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year for the second year in a row and was also named to the All-ACC Academic Team for the fourth year in a row. Maguire was named by Amateurgolf.com as the second best female amateur golfer of the last ten years. Golfweek named Maguire as best female amateur of the last decade.

In June of 2018 Maguire made her professional debut at the ShopRite LPGA Classic. She finished 15th and jumped in the world golf ranking from 614 to 442. The following week, Maguire teed it up at the Decatur-Forsyth Classic on the Symetra Tour. She recorded her first professional hole in one in the event, placing third overall with rounds of 69,68, and 69. Maguire’s first professional appearance on the Ladies European Tour was resulted in an 18th place finish at the Andalucia Cost Del Sol Open.

By April of 2019 Maguire was in the top 300 in the world ranking after placing fourth at the Symetra Tour’s IOA Championship. A week later, Maguire was in the winner’s circle for the first time as a professional at the Windsor Golf Classic. After a second-place finish on May 11 and a win at the Symetra Classic the following week, Maguire moved into the top 175 in the world ranking. She finished 7th on the Symetra Tour money list, securing her LPGA Tour card for the 2020 season.

On January 23, Maguire made her season debut at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio and earned her first top five on the LPGA Tour two weeks later at the ISPS Handa Vic Open. The 4th place finish vaulted Maguire 62 places in the Rolex World Golf Rankings. She reached another milestone on September 13 with her first top 20 finish in a major at the ANA Inspiration. In addition, it was the highest finish for a female from Ireland in a major championship. She finished the season first on tour in putting and secured her tour card for the 2021 season.

Maguire posted a second-place finish at the 2021 Lotte Championship in April. Her score of 267 was the lowest of her professional career. In doing so, she cracked the top 100 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings. On June 10, Maguire posted another top-ten finish at the LPGA Mediheal Championship, moving her to 88th in the world rankings. Less than two weeks later, Maguire finished 2nd to Nelly Korda at the Meijer LPGA Classic. Maguire’s second-round score of 64 was the lowest during her brief LPGA career. After finishing 15th at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Maguire was now at 60th in the world golf rankings.

During the final round of The Evian Championship, Maguire put herself in the record books by posting a 61. It was the lowest round by any golfer, male or female, in the history of major championship play. Her 6th place finish was the highest finish in a major by a player from Ireland. With the performance, Maguire moved into the top 50 in the Rolex World Golf Rankings for the first time. Representing Ireland at the Olympic Games, Maguire finished 23rd with a five-under par total. Continuing her great play, Maguire placed in the top ten for the seventh straight time at the 2021 Women’s British Open. Maguire was selected to represent Team Europe at the Solheim Cup and proceeded to break the points record for a rookie in either the Solheim Cup or Ryder Cup.

In only her second year on the LPGA Tour, Maguire has nearly $1 million in career earnings with six top-ten finishes. She is currently 43rd on the Rolex World Golf Rankings and 8th in the CME Ranking.