Leona Maguire is hoping that second season syndrome kicks in for her again after her top-10 finish on the LPGA tour on Sunday.
In Maguire's case, that means following a bedding in debut campaign in the States with a big 'sophomore' year.
It happened when she played on the Symetra Tour. After finding her feet in her rookie season in 2018, the former world number one amateur finished seventh on the money list to earn her place in the LPGA arena.
Maguire started her maiden Tour campaign in hugely encouraging fashion in February of last year by picking up her first top five finish on the LPGA Tour in the ISPS Handa Vic Open.
However the season was badly affected by the Covid pandemic and, after six months off, her best performance for the remainder of 2021 saw her finish tied 18th in the ANA Inspiration.
But after returning home for Christmas, the Cavan golfer got her 2021 campaign off to an encouraging start with a tied 16th finish at The Gainbridge.
A birdie finish to her final round on Sunday secured tied-6th and a $47,257 payday at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala in Florida, moving her up to 14th in the LPGA season's Order of Merit and onto $72,477 for her first two events of the year.
"Trying to do the same, follow the same trend," smiled Maguire, noting the similarities in improvement from year to year on the Symetra tour.
"The biggest thing was staying patient all week, especially the way the winds gusted and especially when I made the turn on 10, 11, 12.
"I didn't get off to the best start.
"I bogeyed the first two holes but didn't feel like I did an awful lot wrong and got on a nice run, birdied three in a row and then just tried to be smart, hit a lot of greens, and then holed a couple putts on 17 and 18 coming in.
"It is something that I've always prided myself on, the way I bounce back after I drop a few.
"It's not a golf course you can chase on. You can't force things out here. If you do you can rack up a number very quick.
"It was just staying patient. I knew there were chances coming on 4, 5, those sort of holes on the par-5s. I took advantage of the par-5s on Sunday. I think I birdied all of them which comes in very handy.
"It's just that kind of golf course. The way the greens are and how firm they are, you take the pars on some holes and try and make birdies on the ones that are there and try not to beat yourself up too bad."
Maguire is a guaranteed starter in the ANA Inspiration at Mission Hills at the start of next month but has her sights on the US Open in June.
The top 75 in the world will qualify in May and her fast start to the season should see her move to within striking distance of the top 100 when the new rankings are out this week.
"So the big goal is to try and get off to a good start, to get into the US Open," the 26-year-old said.
"I was first alternate last year and sat around Houston and didn't get in, so the goal is to avoid that this year."
Maguire has a fortnight off now and plans to sharpen her game at Lake Nona, where she is a member, after a day or two away from the golf course.
"Yeah, get back just fine tuning everything again," she said. "More of the same of what I did before these first two events.
"My game is in pretty nice shape, which is good. Just a case of fine tuning everything, get a few games in with the girls there. A few games with Annika (Sorenstam) before these two events, maybe see if she wants to play again."
Having thrived in the collegiate atmosphere at Duke University before turning pro, Maguire admits that practising is more fun nowadays as she tees it up with her peers in contrast to the more solitary experience of life on the Symetra Tour.
"Lindy (Duncan) is there, Lydia (Ko), Anne (van Dam), Nasa (Hataoka), is there," she said.
"That's the good thing about being there. There is always someone to play with.
"The guys are a little busy, GMac (Graeme McDowell) and all them were around before the last run but they might be a little busy at the Players this week.
"There's always people to play with, and I think that was the thing I missed about making the jump from college.
"I was kind of by myself a lot of the time and not having people to practice with, play against, whereas this one I had a bit more of that, which definitely helped."
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