Duke women's golf star Leona Maguire cruises to Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship victory

After being crowned as the ACC individual champion in April and coming up just one shot short of a chance at an NCAA title last month, Leona Maguire was rolling.

And this week at the Pyle & Kenfig Golf Club in Bridgend, South Wales, the world's top female amateur golfer stayed right on track.

With a 3-and-2 victory against Ainhoa Olarra in the final Saturday afternoon, Maguire captured first place at the 114th Ladies’ British Open Amateur Championship. The win is the most notable in her young career and gives Maguire automatic spots in this year's U.S. and British Women's Open tournaments.

“It was a great match all day,” Maguire said. “I knew that Ainhoa was going to push me to the very end and she did that with some birdies down the stretch, especially with that putt she holed on 15. We played some great golf today and it’s just nice to come out with a win at the end.”

Following 36 holes of stroke play to cut the field down to 64, Maguire made quick work of her first three opponents to advance to the quarterfinals. The Cavan, Ireland native won her first match 5-and-4 before taking the next two, each by a score of 7-and-6—she chipped in from 40 feet out on the 12th hole to close out her round of 16 contest.

From there, Maguire faced fellow Irishwoman, Paula Grant, who finished atop the leaderboard in the stroke-play portion of the tournament. But the rising senior never trailed, holding a 2-up advantage after nine holes and staying strong down the stretch to advance to Saturday's semifinals.

Finland's Anna Backman could not slow Maguire down in the morning matchup, either. Maguire cruised to a 3-and-2 victory, with Olarra knocking off Norway's Stina Resen to set up the final match of the tournament.

With a birdie on the first hole against Olarra, the Blue Devil star set the tone and never let up. She held as large a lead as four through 12 holes before her Spanish opponent closed to within two on the 15th.