Who is Leona Maguire? All you need to know about the Meijer LPGA Classic champion

Leona Maguire became the winner of the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday as she beat Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand by two strokes.

Maguire carded a 6-under 64 on day 4 at Blythefield Country Club to aggregate at 21-under, claiming her second victory on the LPGA Tour. Notably, she finished runner-up here in the last two years.

Born on November 30, 1994, in County Cavan, Ireland, Maguire started playing golf quite early. At the age of nine, she started taking the game seriously.

Maguire was quite prolific as an amateur. At the age of 10, she won the HSBC British Wee Wonders Championship in 2005.

Maguire went on to win the 2008 Lancome Irish Women's Amateur Close Championship, the 2011 Portuguese International Ladies Amateur Championship, and the 2011 Irish Women's Open Stroke Play Championship. The following year, she defended her Irish Women's Amateur Close Championship title.

By the year 2015, Maguire had become the No. 1 golfer in the women's World Amateur Golf Ranking and held the position until May 2016 and then from August 2016 to February 2018. She held the top spot as the leading amateur golfer for a remarkable 135 weeks, which was surpassed by Rose Zhang earlier this year.

Maguire played the Ladies European Tour’s 2015 ISPS Handa Championship as an amateur and finished second, just one stroke behind the winner. She then competed at the Evian Championship later that year, where she became the first Irish woman golfer to make a cut at the major.

In 2017, Maguire won the Women’s Amateur Championship as she beat Ainhoa Olarra of Spain in the final. The following year, she turned professional. During the 2021 Evian Championship, she created the record for the lowest final-round score in a major by carding a final round of 61 at the event. This is also the lowest final round by a male or female in a major championship.

Maguire's first victory on the LPGA Tour came at the 2022 LPGA Drive On Championship in Fort Myers, Florida, where she aggregated at 18-under, beating Lexi Thompson by a three-stroke margin.

Maguire has made it in the top 10 of three (the U.S. Women's Open, the Evian Championship, and the Women's British Open) of the five majors, and her best performance came in the 2022 Women's British Open, where she finished T4.

Her sister, Lisa, also debuted as a professional in 2018 but quit the game in 2019.

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What are some records Leona Maguire holds?

Leona Maguire during the Meijer LPGA Classic - Round One

Here are some records that Leona Maguire holds in golf:

• The lowest ever single-round score (61) in the final round of a major by any golfer and the joint lowest round in the history of golf's major grand slam tournament rounds, both male and female.
• She holds the all-time rookie points record in either the Solheim Cup or the Ryder Cup, with a total of 4.5 points.
• Last year, she achieved the historic feat of becoming the first Irish female winner on the LPGA Tour.