Maguire banishes thoughts of Bjorn’s Liffey descent to make dream Irish Open cut

Alex Maguire was beyond emotional after he blocked out thoughts of Thomas Bjorn's nightmare Liffey descent 20 years ago and made what could prove to be a career-changing cut in the Amgen Irish Open at The K Club.

Ranked 1,678th in the world, the Laytown and Bettystown talent (24) has struggled to earn status on any tour since he played in The Open as an amateur and then turned professional in 2023.

He's made just €8,273 on the second-tier HotelPlanner Tour since then and a little more on the mini tours.

But after following an opening 70 with a rollercoaster 72, courtesy of a heart-stopping finish, to move inside the projected cut mark in Co Kildare, he has a chance now to earn a big cheque and push on with his career.

He had one hole of his weather-delayed opening round to complete early on Friday and after making a closing par, he eagled the fourth in round two to go to four-under and looked set to cruise into the weekend.

Bogeys at the fifth and 10th changed everything and when he dropped another shot at the 15th, he remembered reading an Instagram post from Thomas Bjorn before warming up that did little to ease his worries.

"I saw a post from Thomas Bjorn put up about going 6-11-6 to finish the tournament here," Maguire said of Bjorn's 2005 Smurfit European Open implosion, when the Dane, nicknamed Van Helsing every since he walked off after six holes at The K Club the previous year "battling with my inner demons", covered the last four holes in 28 strokes.

"I was like, 'that's not good stuff to be reading', so I probably shouldn't be on my phone before I go warm up."
Bjorn described his finish as "the worst day in my golfing life," after slamming four balls and more than half a million euros into the river Liffey in a gut-wrenching 10-minute spell to hand the title to Kenneth Ferrie.

Maguire, who is very strong ball-stiker, didn't find water once coming home, but after making a bogey at the 15th to find himself on the cut line, he made a brilliant birdie four at the 16th, ripping a nine iron to three feet after playing a miraculous second over the trees just to get back in play.

"I got really lucky, and then probably the best nine iron of my life into three feet there, because I knew what I meant," he said.

He then faced the treacherous Liffeyside 17th that destroyed Bjorn in 2005 and hit his tee shot so far right he had to reload.

Steeling himself, he split the fairway with his third and hit another short iron to three feet to make a bogey five.
"It felt like an eagle," he said.

A birdie at the last would ensure his making the cut, and he pulled it off, drilling a four iron to the heart of the green before almost making a 50-footer for eagle.

He was so elated as he walked off the green, he tried to slam his cap to the ground in celebration, but a late release saw it fly backwards across the green and almost disturb South African Zander Lombard.

"That's probably one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done,"  confessed Maguire, who was emotional afterwards as he recalled spotting his father in the gallery.

"Yeah, nerves, adrenaline, excitement, anxiety, everything. I think I'll take a few hours to come down after this, but then I've got to go again tomorrow, so it'll be a new day."

As for that tee shot  on the 17th, he said Bjorn was on his mind.

"It's such a hard tee shot. It's a hazard left, but like I said, it's essentially out of bounds because you have to re-tee.

"You try to push it right off the tee and it's in the trees or you do what I did and it's about to go out of bounds. There's absolutely no margin for error unless you want to lay up onto a tee box and then go from there.

"I think the bogey was great because all of a sudden you double that and then you have to birdie the last and then more pressure and more stress, and who knows how I would deal with it."

Maguire was the last man in the field thanks to a sponsor's invitation, but with the experienced John Mulrooney on his bag —the caddie who helped Darren Clarke win The Open at Sandwich in 2011 —  he's managed to calm himself down and cancel out some occasionally wild play with the driver with super iron shots.

Believing he can make it, like his more famous fellow Bettystown man Evan Ferguson, he knows he has the game.
"I don't really know how I'm dealing with it," he said. "I guess if you ask me in a week, I'll tell you.

"But I think I'm really optimistic that it's the biggest event in Ireland, it's one of the biggest events on the European Tour and I'm out there in the top 10 yesterday.

"I can get to that height; it's not like a fluke. I'm playing lovely and I'm playing steady. I'm up there, and I feel like I'm missing chances, and I'm still top 50.

"So I think just now I'm settled down that the cut's not on my mind and all that sort of stuff. I hope tomorrow can be a great day for me."

He's not lacking in ambition and just hopes he can get a break.

"Absolutely, because I want my life to change," he said. "I want my life to go as well as possible. I want to make money. I want to have status out on the DP World Tour.

"This is where I want to be, so 100% I'm ready for this. It's more a case of standing on a golf course, hitting the shots that allow me to change my life that way.

Ferguson hasn't been in touch, wishing him luck, but Maguire's simply delighted to see him having success.

"I wouldn't really know him very well. But I used to be in school with his sister Ellie, I used to be a very good friend of hers," he said. "She used to be in my class. So we sort of knew of him from a young age. It's great to see he's doing well."

Making the biggest cheque possible is now the goal and Maguire is not afraid to admit that.

"Absolutely. I think it's the first thing I thought of when I holed that putt on the last," he said

"I don't know what it could be. I don't know what last place is, but I'm pretty sure that would be more than what I've earned at the moment, or my biggest cheque.

"For me, everything; every putt counts and every drive in the fairway counts and every green counts.

"I'm not looking to win this. I am looking to win, but I'm not going out trying to win this; I'm trying to finish as high as I possibly can.

"So if I'm standing on the 18th hole on Sunday completely out of it, a birdie for me would go a long way."

While he received €33,000 from the Golf Ireland Professional Scheme this year, tour golf is an expensive business.

"Yeah, and funds go low pretty fast, especially when you're playing for very small prize funds and you're playing Challenge Tour and you finish 10th and you get €800 quid, which doesn't even cover your expenses for the week.

"And it's tough obviously for sponsors to keep supporting you and you might not have the results there and they go, 'oh, this new guy is coming in and I might go for him, I can't fund you this year' and all of a sudden you're losing 10, 15, 20 grand.

"Yeah, like there is a lot of stuff that goes through my head and I'm not the only person in this spot. Many guys have been great amateurs, turn pro, and don't make it because it's just so expensive.

"If everybody had 200 grand to go spend, I guarantee a lot more guys would make it."

Playing well, he admits, might be worth its weight in gold when it comes to confidence.

"It'd probably be worth more than the money, I think," he said. "But yeah, hopefully the next two days go great."