MAGUIRE EXPECTING DIFFERENT TESTS AT ISPS HANDA WORLD INVITATIONAL

Leona Maguire is anticipating a tricky challenge over the first two days of the ISPS HANDA World Invitational Presented by AVIV Clinics.

The ISPS HANDA World Invitational sees two separate 72-hole stroke play tournaments for men and women with two separate prize funds of USD $1,500,000.

Over the first two rounds, the players will face two different courses as they tee it up on the parklands course at Galgorm and on the Links Golf at Castlerock Golf Club.

And having to play Links one day and parkland the next, Maguire knows she will have to adapt to each course and the conditions.

“It’s two very different tests this week,” said the two-time LPGA Tour winner. “Obviously, one being links, one being parkland. Castlerock is a pure links golf course.

“The conditions will very much be dependent on weather. There are semi-blind tee shots and like on any golf course, you need to stay out of those pot bunkers that can be pretty penal.

“Galgorm is playing lush and soft, a little bit more target golf I think, and you have to stay out of the rough. It will definitely be a premium on hitting fairways around Galgorm.

“In links in particular, with the winds, there are some shots that you can hit four different clubs and there’s not really a right or a wrong club. It’s whatever you think at that moment in time.

“Whereas over here on this side at Galgorm it’s more target golf and you’re just going to hit it straight at the pin. It’s an adjustment in mindset, but I think that’s the fun of it. It’s nice when you have to be a little bit more creative and use your imagination a little bit, and it’s not just stand up and hit it wherever you want.

“That’s the beauty of links golf. We played Castlerock pretty calm yesterday in one wind, and then it can be you hit driver, wedge one day and it could be driver, 3-wood the next day, so it depends, and you have to judge it when you get there and take each one as it comes.”