'I knew things were close' — Maguire proud after first major top-10 for three years

Leona Maguire was "proud" to notch her first top-10 in a major since 2022 as Australia's Grace Kim eagled the last and then went-birdie-eagle on the 18th in sudden-death to deny Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul and win the Amundi Evian Championship.

On a day when English amateur Lottie Woad followed her KPMG Women's Irish Open win with a final round charge for the ages, carding a seven-under 64 to tie for third with Minjee Lee on 13-under, Kim (24) hit her second shot to 18 inches at the par-five 18th and watched Thitikul (22) miss a 10-footer for victory

She tapped in for eagle to match the Thai star's 67 as they finished a shot ahead of Woad and Lee on 14-under.

In the playoff, Kim's hopes looked slim when she hit her approach into water.

But she chipped in for an unlikely birdie, forcing Thitikul to chip and putt to extend the playoff.

The Thai star had to make a seven-footer to stay alive, but on their return to the 18th for the second tie hole, Kim made eagle from 10 feet to claim the title.

It was also a big day for Maguire, who fired seven birdies in a four-under 67 to finish tied for seventh on 11-under.

It was the Cavan woman's first top ten on tour since January and her first in a major since she tied for fourth in the AIG Women's Open in 2022.

She was thrilled with her performance, and she's now looking forward to getting back to Wales, where she won the British Ladies Amateur at Pyle & Kenfig in 2017,  for the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl in three weeks.

"I knew things were close, and so it's nice because this week is a really good test," said Maguire, who won €226, 025.

"If you're a little bit off you get punished quite quickly. Feel like I executed a lot of great shots, especially coming down the stretch today, so very proud of my week."

Maguire was tied for 12th overnight, four shots off the lead, and made birdies at the third and fifth to close in on the leaders.

While she bogeyed the sixth, failed to birdie the par-five seventh and then three putted the short eighth, she would mix one bogey with five birdies in her last 10 holes and let several other chances slip by.

"I played some, some really good golf this week," Maguire said. "Really happy with how I played. It's probably the best golf I've played in quite a while.

"It's nice. I knew my game was trending nicely coming into this week.

"This is a course that tests all aspects of your game, and my approach play was something that I've been working on quite a bit.

"My irons were really, really good this week. So yeah, lots of positives take out of the week, definitely."

She plans to play links golf on her return home, but after just finishing a five-in-a-row stretch, she has yet to decide if she will play the Scottish Open in two weeksto get ready for the AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl at the end of the month.

"Home, home tomorrow morning, some links golf next week, at home in Ireland, and undecided whether I play the Scottish," she said.

"That would be a decision to be made in the next couple of days. And then if Scottish, and then British."

She was certainly pleased with her play into the greens.

"Yeah, my iron shots were really good," she said. "I think especially off the slopes. I had a lot of control over my irons and gave myself a lot of chances.

"Obviously, the hole in one was a bonus on Thursday morning as well. But, just really solid.

"Maybe didn't quite drive the ball today as well as I would have liked, and I left a couple of putts short, but overall, it's still probably a top 10 in the major. All positive."

Woad earned the two points needed to clinch her LPGA Tour card, but she insisted she has not yet decided whether to accept it immediately.

"Not sure about that," she said. "I'm just going to take the next week and discuss with my family and coaches, and then I'll make a decision after that.”

As for her final round charge, she said: "Yeah, it was really fun. I knew starting the day I was only like five off, so I needed to have a quick start and I did. Then it was really just really fun after that.”