Eire’s brilliantly profitable Video games has heaped extra strain on Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow to carry out within the Girls’s Olympic Golf Competitors nevertheless it’s clear {that a} cool head and a capability to execute will win out over pure emotion at Le Golf Nationwide.
Meadow had “goosebumps” watching the group chant “Rory, Rory, Rory” as McIlroy made his in the end doomed cost for a medal final Sunday whereas Maguire admitted that the hype surrounding Eire’s finest ever Olympics when it comes to medals has fuelled her need to make her mark.
The bookmakers charge world primary and reigning Olympic champion Nelly Korda, Thai star Atthaya Thitikul and America’s a number of main winner Lilia Vu because the three medal favourites.
Even with the treacherous 18th transformed from a par-four for the lads to a 447-yard par-five for the ladies, the 6,374-yard, par-72 monitor will reward the larger hitters and power shorter gamers like Meadow (32) and Maguire (29) to financial institution on accuracy and nice placing to contend for the {hardware}.
“It’s clearly an outstanding golf course,” mentioned Maguire, who has had one LET win, a high 12 and three missed cuts in her final eight begins worldwide and arrives in Paris with some query marks over her consistency however none in terms of her aggressive drive.
“It’s going to be an important check this week. It may actually check each, each a part of your sport. And I feel whoever comes away with the medals this week goes to must have performed some actually nice golf, and that’s precisely the way it must be for an Olympic Video games.”
Meadow’s type— two 53rd-place finishes and 6 missed cuts in her final eight begins —doesn’t bode nicely for a repeat of her efficiency in Tokyo three years in the past, the place she was seventh and Maguire twenty third behind Korda, Japan’s Mone Inami and Kiwi Lydia Ko.
However each ladies are fierce rivals and it might be no shock to see them close to the enterprise finish of the leaderboard in a 60-strong discipline, impressed by some memorable Irish performances.
“They’ve simply had an unimaginable Video games to this point, our greatest ever as a rustic,” Maguire mentioned of her teammates. “It’s been very inspiring to look at them succeed and achieve this nicely, and clearly, you need to have the ability to add to that.
“Out watching the fellows on the weekend, there have been a number of tricolours and a number of Irish jerseys. It nearly felt like we had been a bit bit nearer to residence, relatively than France. It nearly has a Solheim Cup or Ryder Cup ambiance to it with all of the grandstands and the crowds. I feel it should be very thrilling.”
If Maguire can faucet into her Solheim Cup mindset, something is feasible and Meadow, who was third on her main debut within the 2014 US Girls’s Open at Pinehurst No 2, the final time the ladies adopted the lads on the identical course, can’t be discounted even at 400-1.
“I am very excited,” mentioned the Jordanstown star, who leads off the Irish problem within the first group of the day with residence favorite Perrine Delacour and Belgium’s Manon de Roey at 8 a.m.
“I am within the first group tomorrow, so I count on the primary tee shall be numerous enjoyable and doubtless a reminiscence that may final a lifetime… I’m wanting ahead to it. It is a particular alternative for me.”
As for Maguire, her greatest fear is staying out of the tough, and the “extremely tough” greenside bunkers.
“There isn’t any sand in them in any respect,” she mentioned. “You should have loads of possibilities in the event you hit fairways and greens however on the similar time, in the event you miss a fairway you are simply going to be pitching out.
“If you happen to miss a inexperienced, it is a flop shot from in every single place. It is hit it as arduous as you may and hope that the ball strikes generally.”
She added: “In the end, like every main, any match, whoever holes the appropriate putts on the proper time goes to achieve success this week.”
