Leona Maguire is confident that finishing second to Nelly Korda last weekend puts her in a strong position for this week's major title push in the KPMG Women's Championship.
Maguire has never played at the Atlanta Athletic Club before this week but pushing Korda all the way in Sunday's final round of the Meijer Classic - "I was a little stressed out," said the world-class American - has further fuelled her bid to make history.
The Cavan golfer's push for an Irish golfing first - a win on the LGPA tour - almost came to fruition with her impressive closing 66, but Korda held out to win by two shots and moved to third in the world rankings in the process.
For her part, matching her own best finish on Tour saw Maguire leap 25 places to 63rd in the rankings, in keeping with her hugely impressive form over the past few months, and secured her close to €200,000 in prize money.
"I feel like this week has been really good prep going into a major," said the 26-year-old. "Obviously, it's going to be a bit of a different golf course.
"I'm really happy where my game is at. I hit a lot of fairways and greens this week and putted pretty nice as well.
"All in all, my game is in really good shape and I feel like this was really good preparation heading into a major week.
For the second week in succession, Maguire led the field after the opening round but this time she backed it up in the second and third rounds, only for Korda to race ahead on Saturday with a sizzling 62.
"She's a really solid player," said Korda, and in response to that praise Maguire said, "Nelly is one of the best players in the world and I went toe to toe with her, pretty much.
"I knew it was going to be a battle. I knew I had a lot of golf in front of me and she had a three-shot head start.
"I'm really proud of how I played all week, hit some great golf shots when I needed to.
"I also got off to a really nice start, which I have been doing, and backing it up with three more solid rounds after that.
"Really proud of how I fought this week, and same in San Francisco last week. Just didn't give myself quite enough in the end.
"Nelly is a great player and I'm very proud of myself. I had a lot of messages from back home wishing me well. It was great to have the support out there."
