Leona Maguire has opted for experience—and good humour—by joining forces with veteran Tralee caddie Verner Tess for the foreseeable future.
While Warrenpoint’s Colm Campbell will once again have Lahinch’s Daniel McInerney on his bag as he begins his defence of the Pierse Motors Volkswagen-sponsored South of Ireland Amateur Open at the Co Clare links today, Maguire is also going with someone who knows the ropes as she returns to LPGA Tour action for the CPKC Women’s Open in Canada tomorrow.
Maguire and caddie Dermot Byrne ended their three-year partnership last month when the two-time LPGA winner and Solheim Cup star missed her third cut from four major starts this year in the Amundi Evian Championship.
The Ballyconnell battler (29) still has a lot to play for this season and with the AIG Women’s Open at St Andrews, the KPMG Women’s Irish Open and the Solheim Cup just three of the big events on her schedule, Tess should make the transition a comfortable one.
The Kerryman (pictured above, second from left alongside Simon Keelan, Catriona Matthew and Shane Codd) in is a 20-year LPGA Tour veteran with a string of top bags in his resumé.
“She will like his no-nonsense old-school approach,” one tour insider said of Tess, who is renowned for his good humour.
“The man has more stories than anyone!”
Tess is highly regarded within the game and enjoyed two stints with two-time Solheim Cup-winning captain Catriona Matthew and another good run with Australia’s Katherine Hull Kirk that included a runner-up finish to Yani Tseng in the 2010 Women’s Open at Royal Birdkale.
He was Europe’s caddie captain in the 2019 Solheim Cup win at Gleneagles and also enjoyed a successful spell with England’s Charley Hull.
A good caddie certainly made all the difference to Campbell (37) when he claimed his first big matchplay title with a one-up win over Peter O’Keeffe in last year’s South of Ireland final.
Campbell had the services of Lahinch’s Daniel McInerney (pictured below with Campbell) last year and credited his green reading skills as key as they overcame rain and 60 kmph gusts.
“He’s been a huge help,” Campbell said last year. “Especially when the wind and the rain was bad. “And his local knowledge helps, he can play as well, so it’s good to have someone like him on the bag.”
The veteran is looking to become the first man to retain the ‘South’ since Michael Guerin completed a hat-trick of wins in 1963.
“Not only was it one I was looking to win, I’ve been travelling to the South for so long, but it was my first match play victory as well and it was also my first match play final, so I was absolutely delighted,” said Campbell.
“I thrive on match play. I just have that mindset that when I go out on the golf course me versus another person and I’ll just do whatever I can to win and sometimes it’s not pretty, but it doesn’t matter it’s not how, it’s how many and you just try and get the job done. It’s a nice feeling whenever you get one over on the opponent.
“I know not to get too carried away with myself. Obviously going back as defending champion the expectations are, let’s see can you retain it, that’s going to be a tough task, I know that myself but I feed off what I did last year and my game is in decent shape.
“Just looking forward to going back and to get to the latter stages of the event you need to play well but you also need a wee bit of luck on your side and a few things to go your way.
“Expectations are we’ll go down, give it a go, see what happens, and hopefully, we’ll be close come Sunday.”
The top 64 after two rounds of strokeplay qualifying will make the matchplay draw on Friday with the final set for Sunday afternoon.
The field is without 2018 winner Caolan Rafferty, who joins Max Kennedy in the clashing St Andrews Trophy at Royal Porthcawl.
However, reigning West of Ireland champion Keith Egan, former champions Hugh Foley and TJ Ford and current internationals Jack McDonnell and David Shiel have the firepower to go all the way.
