LEONA Maguire’s hopes of a maiden Major title were dashed yesterday as Sweden's Anna Nordqvist won her third Major after a dramatic final round in the AIG Women's Open at Carnoustie.
Maguire went into yesterday’s final round just four shots off overnight leaders Nordqvist and Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen, but the Cavan woman opened with back-to-back bogeys to fall to three-under and another two bogeys would follow in the front nine, although birdies did arrive at the fourth and sixth holes.
Maguire did manage three birdies between the 11th and 14th holes to move to six-under and she parred out from there to finish in a tie for 13th.
Kildare amateur Lauren Walsh was also in action yesterday and she opened up with a bogey, and she closed with one too, but overall she had another good day as a three-under round secured her a tie for 42nd on a one-over total overall.
Nordqvist held her nerve to end a four-year winless drought as she carded a closing 69 to finish 12 under par, a shot ahead of compatriot Madelene Sagstrom, 2018 champion Georgia Hall and American Lizette Salas.
Sagstrom bogeyed the 18th to miss out on a potential play-off but it was Madsen who had the most cause for regret, the 26-year-old sharing the lead with playing partner Nordqvist until making a double-bogey six on the last.
On the hole where Jean van de Velde squandered a three-shot lead in the 1999 Open, Madsen pushed her approach into a greenside bunker and, from an awkward lie, shanked her next shot almost out of bounds.
The resulting double bogey dropped her into a tie for fifth alongside Evian Championship winner Minjee Lee, who had earlier set the clubhouse target on 10 under after a closing 66.
Nordqvist, whose last victory was also a major, the 2017 Evian Championship, said: "I've been waiting on this one for a while. There's been a lot of downs, a lot of hard times, so I think this makes it feel even sweeter.
"I could only dream about winning the British Open and I'm so happy. I had my husband Kevin there for me every single year since I won last time. We officially got married in Scottsdale in March with just us and six of our friends there and about 21 people on Zoom.
"We have postponed what I would say is our real wedding to next summer. It's going to be about 20 minutes away from here in a castle. I can't wait to walk down the aisle again in Scotland next year."
Nordqvist and Madsen shared the lead heading into a final round which saw a six-way tie in the early stages before birdies on the sixth, eighth and ninth edged Nordqvist in front.
A two-shot swing on the 12th, where Nordqvist made her only bogey of the day and Madsen a birdie, gave the latter the lead for the first time, only for the 26-year-old to bogey the 15th after finding sand off the tee.
Sagstrom's birdie on the 17th briefly made it a three-way tie at the top, but she bogeyed the 18th after her drive trickled into a bunker, leaving the final pair to fight it out on the closing stretch.
