The Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman Award for June: Leona Maguire

The winner of The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Month for June 2023 is golfer, Leona Maguire.

Leona Maguire put herself in contention for the second LPGA title of her career at the Meijer LPGA Classic at the Blythefield Country Club in Michigan last month. Her score in the opening rounds of 69, 65 and sixty-nine were topped off when she finished with a remarkable run of birdie-eagle-par-birdie-birdie-birdie from the 13th to the 18th on the final day, part of a bogey-free round of 64, which gave her a two-shot margin of victory over Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn - and that second LPGA title of her career.

A week later, it looked she might add the first major of her career to her CV when she took a one-shot lead into the final round of the PGA Championship in New Jersey. Unfortunately she came up short on that occasion, having to settle for a tie for 11th.

Her run of results was enough though to see Leona Maguire break into the world's top ten for the first time, making her the first Irish woman to achieve that feat and a worthy winner of The Irish Times Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Month for June.

With two more majors to aim for this year, as the Evian and the AIG Women's Open are both on the horizon in the coming weeks, we wish Leona Maguire hearty congratulations and the best of luck.