GAINESVILLE, Va. — Europe’s Solheim Cup MVP is only playing one team session this week. Leona Maguire compiled a dominant 7-2-1 record while playing all five sessions over her first two Solheim Cups in 2021 and 2023, but European captain Suzann Pettersen left her on the bench all of Saturday.

“It’s always hard to sit great, great players, but where we sit we have to play the ones that are really playing well this week,” Pettersen said to Golf Channel. “I mean, Leona, she’s going to be 100 percent tomorrow and she’s all about the team, so I mean, she’s a great teammate. Understands and she’s allowed to be disappointed. At the same time, she has to believe in what the team is doing, and she’ll going to be out here showing her face.”

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Maguire earned her superstar Solheim Cup reputation from her ascendant 2021 debut at Inverness Club where she was the powering force behind their Solheim Cup defense, earning 4½ points to set the all-time rookie points record as part of the Europe’s 15-13 victory. At Finca Cortesin last year, she went 3-2, with a chip-in on the 18th hole during Friday four-ball, earning the first full point for the home team as they battled back from an 0-4 first session deficit.

The match-play wizard’s best finish on the LPGA this year fittingly happened in the T-Mobile Match Play Las Vegas. Maguire powered her way through the eight-player bracket to the finals until running into Nelly Korda, who took down Maguire 4 and 3 at Shadow Creek.

But in the past three months, Maguire has struggled over limited starts on the LPGA heading into her third Solheim Cup. The two-time winner played in five events since May, with a best result of T-24 in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The 29-year-old from Ireland had her best performance across the pond in the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Team Series in London in July, making a needed eagle putt for a one-stroke victory for her first LET title. Maguire’s last start before the Solheim Cup was in her home country, finishing T-15 in the LET’s Women’s Irish Open on Sept. 1.

During Maguire’s press conference ahead of the matches, there was no signal she was out of form. She acknowledged her star role while playing whatever role Pettersen asked of her.

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“For the last two, my job is to get as many points as possible,” Maguire said. “That’s how I can contribute best to the team, and that’s what I try to do. Again, every Solheim Cup is different, and whatever Suzann wants me to do this week, that’s what I’ll do.”

That turned into a limited role that was hard to imagine at the start of the week. Maguire’s only session came in Friday afternoon four-ball alongside Georgia Hall. The pair struggled as Maguire made two birdies, one more than her partner, with the Euros getting crushed 6 and 4 against World No. 1 Nelly Korda and Megan Khang.

Pettersen makes up for Maguire’s two sessions, in part, by sending Emily Pedersen and Charley Hull for all four team sessions. She sent Maguire, Emily Pedersen and Linn Grant out for five sessions in Spain.

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