Leona happy with ‘solid’ year as Aberg makes PGA Tour history
Leona Maguire was pleased to finish of a “pretty solid year” with a tie for 36th behind Amy Yang in the CME Group Tour Championship.
The Co Cavan star made four birdies in a three-under 69 at Tiburon in Florida to finish on nine under as South Korea’s Yang closed with a a 66 to win the season-ending event and $2 million by three shots from Japan’s Nasa Hataoka and Alison Lee on 27-under.
“Overall it was pretty solid year- I mean any a year you win, I feel like it's always a good year,” said Maguire, who was one of Europe’s heroes in the Solheim Cup in Spain.
“The win was obviously one of the highlights as well, so yeah it was a steady year.
“I didn't quite contend as much in the second half of the year as I would have liked but there are a lot of positives to take into next year.”
Maguire has one more event to play when she returns to Tiburon next month for the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed team event from December 8-10.
“I really like Tiburon,” she added. “I always like coming back here so it’ll be nice to have another go around here.
“It's a good format so it should be a fun week and obviously it's a new format and a new event so it's a cool thing to be a part of that.
“Before that I will be back in Orlando to get some practice and get back in the gym. It's a bit weird I guess having the Grant Thornton in the middle of what’s technically off-season.
“But also it's such a quick turnaround to the Tournament of Champions in January so it will be kind of prep for that. We don't get much rest so I’ll go home for Christmas, which should be nice, take a break and then get back at it in January.”
Lilia Vu shot 65 to finish fourth in the CME Group Tour Championship and claim the Player of the Year title.
But it was also a great day for Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who completed a fairytale start to his professional career by claiming his first PGA Tour title in record setting fashion at the RSM Classic.
A winner on the DP Tour Tour’s Omega European Masters before playing his part in Europe’s Ryder Cup win, Aberg (24) closed with back to back nine-under 61s at the weekend to win by four shots from Mackenzie Hughes on 29-under-par 253z
“This is beyond my dreams,” Aberg said after making a 20 footer at the last to win in just his 11th professional PGA Tour start and match the lowest 72 he aggregate in pga tour history with the lowest final 54 (186) and 36 holes (122).
He added: “It’s been six months that I’ll never forget. It was really cool. This is what you dream of as a kid.
“If you told me this six months ago, I would not have believed you.”
