Maguire twins split as one fails to make cut for Curtis Cup

IDENTICAL TWINS and sisters-in-arms in conquering the golfing world through their teenage years, 17-year-old Leona and Lisa Maguire have been split by the Curtis Cup selectors for amateur women’s golf’s biggest team match.

Leona, the British strokeplay champion, and the youngest by 15 minutes, was given the thumbs-up from the Britain and Ireland selectors for the match at Nairn in Scotland this coming June against the holders, the United States.

Lisa, the reigning European champion, was – very surprisingly – overlooked and only named as first reserve for the match when the eight-player team was announced yesterday.

Lisa’s omission is all the more curious in that three players selected for the team are behind her in the official rankings. Lisa is currently ranked 56th in the world, while Pamela Pretswell, the lone Scot in the team, is ranked 62nd, Kelly Tidy of England is ranked 109th and another English player, Bronte Law, is ranked 225th in the world.

Two years ago, the Maguire twins – now fifth year students at Loreto College in Cavan – made history when, aged 15, they became the youngest ever players to represent Britain and Ireland in the Curtis Cup, amateur women’s golf’s equivalent to the professional Solheim Cup. In the 2010 match in Boston, Lisa won two out of a possible three points against a USA team that included teenager Alexi Thompson who has since won on the US LPGA Tour and on the European Ladies Tour as a professional.

Leona Maguire, currently ranked ninth in the women’s amateur world rankings, and USA-based Stephanie Meadow – ranked 10th in the world and on a scholarship to the University of Alabama – were the two Irish players named in the eight-woman team for this year’s match when Britain and Ireland will be seeking to end a drought that dates back to Killarney in 1996.

The Maguires have been trendsetters for Irish women’s golf in the international arena: in 2009, they became the youngest-ever players to represent Britain and Ireland in the Vagliano Trophy match against the continent of Europe and, that same year, were on an Irish team with Meadow that won the European Girls’ Team Championship for the first time.

Last year, Leona became the youngest winner of the British strokeplay, while Lisa became the first Irish player to win the European Individual Championship.