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If it happens anywhere other than Evian, you can start saying 61 is the new 63. For decades, 63 was the major-championship standard. Just ask Johnny Miller, who barely went a week without mentioning his round that Sunday at Oakmont in 1973.
Only one person one the men’s side has shot 62 in a major, Branden Grace at the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. But three players have now shot 61 in a women’s major, all of them doing so at the Evian Championship.
Hyo-Joo Kim did it the first time when she won in 2014. Then Jeongeun Lee6 shot 61 on Friday to take the midway lead in the championship. The final 61 came Sunday, this time by Ireland’s Leona Maguire (above), who posted 10 birdies and no bogeys in her final round to finish 13-under par and tied for sixth place. Maguire had an eagle putt on the final hole (a big left-to-right breaker from the back fringe) to shoot 60 but made birdie instead.
“It’s one of those courses,” Maguire said. “I mean, we saw (Lee6) do it the other day. You know it’s possible. But everything just kind of has to go your way.
“I felt like I’ve been playing really well the last couple days; I just didn't hole any putts. So, it was a case of staying as patient as you possibly can. This course definitely tests it. Birdie on the first and then holed a really nice putt on the second and it just kind of snowballed from there really.”
The knock on Maguire has always been that she isn’t long enough. She did almost everything you could as an amateur, occupying the No.1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Rankings for 135 weeks (the longest stint in history) and winning the Mark H. McCormack Award as the best amateur in the game twice. Then she toiled for a couple of years on the Symetra Tour and the Ladies European Tour before breaking out with some good finishes on the LPGA Tour in 2020. That’s partly due to some added strength and length. She had gained 15 to 20 yards in driving distance in the past 14 months and the results have shown, especially so on Sunday at Evian where she put her name in the record books.
“I’ve just been really consistent, giving myself opportunities,” she said. “My irons have been good. It’s really boiled down to how I putt. There really wasn’t a whole a lot of difference between the 61 (on Sunday) and 71 (on Saturday). I came off the course feeling like I played great and just didn’t hole any putts. Today they went in.
“I hit it that little bit closer and just holed a few more putts, so it’s fine margins, as is golf.”
Steve Eubanks