Maguire wins Mark H McCormack Medal

KINGSBARNS, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 04: Amateur Leona Maguire of Ireland hits her second shot on the 4th hole during the second round of the Ricoh Women's British Open at Kingsbarns Golf Links on August 4, 2017 in Kingsbarns, Scotland. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

Ireland’s Leona Maguire has won the Mark H McCormack Medal for the third consecutive year as the leading women’s player in the 2017 World Amateur Golf Ranking.

Maguire has enjoyed another excellent season having won the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship at Pyle & Kenfig and finished joint runner-up in the 2017 NCAA Championship individual standings, notching up three wins from ten starts in the 2016/17 season and finishing in the top six in every event. The 22-year-old, who will shortly begin her senior year at Duke University, also earned the Annika Award as the national player of the year for the second time in her career.

“It’s a huge honour for me,” said Maguire. “To win it once was one thing but to win it three times is quite a humbling feeling. I know there have been some great names before me but to have my name on there three times is something very special and something that I am very proud of.”

She has seven victories to her name from her collegiate career and last year finished tied 21st while representing Ireland at the Olympic Games in Rio. Maguire narrowly missed out on winning the Smyth Salver as the leading amateur at the recent Ricoh Women’s British Open and she also competed in the US Women’s Open and the Marathon Classic on the LPGA Tour. She will round off the season with another major championship appearance at the Evian Championship next month.

Duncan Weir, Executive Director – Golf Development at The R&A, said, “Leona deserves huge credit for maintaining such a high level of performance over the last three seasons and is indeed a worthy winner of the McCormack Medal. To remain top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking for as long as she has, shows that Leona has a tremendous competitive spirit as well as an excellent all-round game. I would like to congratulate her on the award and wish her well in her final year at college.”

SHARE
Previous articleWorld’s fastest golf hole attempt
Next articleAmbitious renovation plans at Prince’s Golf Club
A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.