There were no medals to take home but it was still a very good week for the Irishwomen in Rio as both Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow performed well above their pre-Olympic ranking, finishing tied 21^st and tied 31^st respectively.

Both players flourished on Friday at the Olympic Course, with a 66 for Meadow bettered by a 65 from Maguire, as she briefly looked in medal contention.

Maguire played on Saturday with world number 1 Lydia Ko and world number 4 Lexi Thompson, which was a fantastic opportunity for the 22-year-old amateur.

Leona hopes that their performances will inspire a new generation of Irish women to take up the game.

“Hopefully it means a lot,” she said. “It was great to have both myself and Stephanie out here this week.  We both did pretty well I think.

“And obviously this has been streamed all around the world, so I think it’s great for ladies’ golf in general.  It’s nice to see big crowds out there today.”

Given Maguire’s top 25s in the Olympics and British Opens, she has nothing to fear ahead of LPGA Q-School in October.