Justin Thomas, Jordan Speith and Xander Schauffele need little introduction in the world of golf - bona fide superstars with a wealth of Major titles and PGA Tour wins between them.
The name Michael Maguire, up until last weekend and his play-off victory at the Black Mountain Championship on The International Series in Thailand, might not have gained the same global recognition.
Yet all four are part of the same generation of players who regularly competed against each other in collegiate tournament golf in the U.S. before their careers took very different paths.
Maguire’s stunning play-off win over rankings leader John Catlin at Black Mountain Golf Club last week may have come as a surprise to many.
To Maguire it was the culmination of a long journey that had started off in that illustrious company, took in stints on the PGA Latinoamerica Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour, and is currently playing out on the Asian Tour.
“I did four years at the University of North Florida, where I was four time All American, and had three college tournament wins, so I had a lot of success,” he said. “I was seeing guys like Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, turning pro immediately, and winning on the PGA Tour.
“And I thought, okay, I am not that far behind these guys. And I was confident that I was going to be there, out there, you know, with those guys. It did not work out.
“Looking back nine years later, it was not where I expected to be and where I wanted to be when I was coming out of college. But I was young and immature. And I look at those guys, how much more mature they were than I was. I did not have the discipline, or the work ethic that I do now.”
The 31-year-old, who turned pro in 2015, secured one PGA Tour Latinoamerica tournament win, the Shell Open back in 2020 at Doral, Florida, and was up to double figures for top-10 finishes as he honed his game and learned how to grind it out and get in contention.
He then played a season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022, before issues with putting and confidence resulted in a lost card. He then missed out on a spot at Q School by a single shot.
Maguire was alerted to the Asian Tour, and potential pathway onto the lucrative LIV Golf League, through the work of another university alumnus, Scott Vincent. The 2022 International Series Rankings champion spent two years with Iron Heads GC thanks to his rankings win.
He explained: “We played together in college on a couple of tournaments. I saw what he did and how he got on the LIV Golf League, and it was very interesting. I thought it might be a good path for me to try and take.
“I loved the travel around Latin America, seeing the different countries, so I had the travel bug already so it was very easy for me to think, ‘let’s go to Asia and do this’.”
Up until last weekend, Maguire’s best finish since graduating from Asian Tour Q School was a T4 at International Series Vietnam last year.
To Maguire, who shot from 77 to 5 in The International Series Rankings and is fourth on the Asian Order of Merit, he is tracking exactly where he should be – a champion battling it out with rankings leader Catlin, International Series Morocco winner Ben Campbell and others for that lucrative spot on the LIV Golf League.
Maguire, who is up to US$440,930 in earnings this season after his bumper US$360,000 pay day last week, said: “I think now that I have won, I have expectations, and I think I have to try to at least do the best I can to catch John. He is pretty high up, still ahead in the rankings. I need to chase the wins.
“I was expecting to be peaking around International Series Qatar [the penultimate week of the season]. I know the course is long and it is windy, so I was eyeballing that one, and thinking I can do really well there.”
So, what’s the secret? The special sauce that Maguire has found seemingly out of nowhere? This season he’s certainly been trending upwards, with a T25 at International Series England, a T16 at the Mandiri Indonesia Open, a T7 at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters and the play-off win in Thailand last weekend.
Turns out it is a simple formula: determination plus hard work.
He said: “I basically put my foot down and said, okay if I really want to get to the elite level, I have got to really work hard, put in more hours. And that is basically what I did. I just put in more effort, got more focused.”
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
