Leona Maguire at KPMG headquarters. Credit ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

Leona Maguire didn't win a tournament in 2021, but she still considers it the most successful year of her career.

Her Solheim Cup heroics alone were worth their weight in gold and with her confidence at an all-time high, she's hoping to scale even greater heights in 2022 as she seeks to add more consistency to her performances, especially in the majors.

She begins the new LPGA Tour campaign in this week's Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio ranked a career-high 40th in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings and with a new four-year contract extension with sponsors KPMG set to give her peace of mind to the end of 2026, she's never had more support.

The 27-year old is refreshed after a two-month break and eager to begin a season that will see the women's gameplay for more money than ever before with a $10 million purse on offer for June's US Women's Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in North Carolina, just a few miles from her Duke University alma mater.

It's set to be a landmark year, but Maguire's goal is not to win tournaments or majors per se, just make sure she prepares so well, she gives herself the best possible chance to get the very best out of herself.

"There's not going to be anything on there about winning tournaments or winning majors or anything like that," she said of her written goals though she has indicated several times in recent months that the major will be her main focus. "That's stuff that's outside my control.

"If that happens, fantastic, but that won't be the primary focus of my goals. It never has been. I've never been someone to focus on rankings or winning, so it will be more on my preparation and things like that that ultimately will hopefully lead to those things."

She's spent enough time around top athletes such as gold medal-winning Olympic boxer Kellie Harrington or Grand National-winning jockey Rachael Blackmore to know what it takes.

"There are a lot of parallels in preparation," she said of their camaraderie with the likes of Harrington, Blackmore, Katie Taylor or Paralympic swimmer Ellen Keane. "But the sports are very different. I don't know how Rachael does what she does, jumping over those fences at that speed! The big takeaway is the effort and preparation."

Having won four and a half points out of five in the Solheim Cup, the Slieve Russell golfer is now one of the big names in the women's game and expected to win LPGA titles and majors.

Yet when asked for her definition of success, she spoke about everything but winning.

"It's all about making improvements," she said. "Success is relative. Again, this is my second full year on Tour. You look at Justin Rose's career with all those missed cut at the start, and he's since won a major, an Olympic gold medal and become world number one. Everyone's journey is very different. It's very easy to compare yourself to people you pitch up with — the Nellys, Lydias, people like that.

"Ultimately, it's my own journey. All I can be is be better than I was yesterday, better than I was last year. That's success for me.

"I didn't win in 2021, but I felt it was my most successful year because I committed to the changes I made and executed them when I needed to for the most part. For me, that was a big success.

"Winning… there's a lot of factors involved. A lot of other people involved. Some things I can't control. Success for me is executing. It's what I need to do myself. The external result is just a by-product."

Maguire added nearly 15 yards off the tee in 2021 and vastly improved her iron play. As a result, she hit more greens and gave herself more chances and she's hoping to continue on that path this year."

It's the same path taken by her 2016 Olympic teammate Séamus Power and the pair have fed off each other over the past 18 months.

"Seamus has had an incredible last year and a half," she said. "He's obviously had huge momentum. Last year we were texting back-and-forth leading up to his win. I was doing well, and he was doing well and we were just delighted to see each other doing well, I suppose.

"He went from 400 and something in the world into the top 50 in the world and he probably isn't playing all that much different. He's just got a few more opportunities and made the most of them when he has got them.

"That's massive in golf and massive in sports and in life. It's being ready to take those opportunities when you get them, and it's fantastic to see Seamus up there on the leaderboard week in, week out with the best players in the world on the PGA Tour. He probably isn't getting the credit he deserves for the golf he is playing at the minute."

As far as opportunities go, Maguire will get to play in all five majors this year having failed to make the US Women's Open in 2020 or 2021. With the Solheim Cup giving her the belief that her game is good enough to take on all comers, she's looking to make it count.

"It's nice to know that my game stacks up there with the best players in the world in any given week," she said. "For me, the biggest thing is putting four rounds together. Last year there were times I felt I put three really, really good rounds together and the fourth round, in whatever order whether it was the second, third or fourth or whatever it was, there was a little bit missing.

"So it's trying to put those four rounds together, that's something that I hope to do a little bit better this year, but like you said, I take the confidence from knowing that my game is in really good shape and I can perform in the big moments when necessary.”

She spent some of her recent break working in her swing with coach Shane O’Grady and made some changes.

“I spent some time with Shane (O'Grady) when I was home, worked on a few things, we tweaked a few things in my swing, trying to make it more stable. I was back in the gym. I came out here to Florida two weeks ago, got some practice in at Lake Nona and a few games with some of the girls to try and get ready. It is a lot earlier start to the season than last year.

“We are starting about three weeks earlier, so not quite as much a break this year, but I'll just try to build on the momentum of last year, probably these first two weeks in Florida,”

As for her extended deal with KPMG, she said: “KPMG have been a huge supporter of mine, been there from the very beginning. Big global company. From them to have that trust in me — I didn't have an LPGA card when they came on board. There was no LPGA, no Solheim Cup. They believed in me off the back of my amateur career. That gave me a lot of confidence starting off. Also a lot of comfort.

“Girls (on Symetra Tour?) were wondering if they'd enough money to put petrol in the car, to enter a tournament, heat the house or whatever it was. I was in very fortunate positions to be on Symetra Tour with a paid car, and to be able to travel to every event, and play my year, thanks to KPMG and other sponsors.”