"It's surreal"- Leona Maguire highlights how special the Olympics are, cites Scottie Scheffler and Novak Djokovic's reactions

Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow will represent Team Ireland at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The venue for the women's Olympic golf event is the same as that of the men's, Le Golf National's Albatross Golf Course.

The Olympics is a special event for all golfers, as they seldom have the chance to represent their countries professionally on the international stage. The Olympic golf event is often compared to the Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup as it is one of the few golf events where players get to represent their nations.

During the pre-round press conference, Leona Maguire shared her thoughts on this comparison. Maguire said it is hard to compare the Olympics with the Solheim Cup. She also cited the reactions of Scottie Scheffler and Novak Djokovic after winning their respective events.

"I think you saw it with Scottie on Sunday, everything he's won, he's practically won everything, and how much it meant to him. You saw it with Djokovic as well, he's done everything in tennis and it seemed to mean an awful lot to him," Maguire said.

Scottie Scheffler won the gold medal in men's golf and couldn't hold back his tears. A similar thing happened in men's tennis, where Djokovic won gold and was emotional during the medal ceremony.

"It's hard to compare to a major and it's hard to compare to a Ryder Cup or Solheim Cup. This week is going to be a very special week either way. It's surreal that it's the Olympics already. It's gone by pretty quick. Excited to start tomorrow and hoping we can do our best," the Irish golfer concluded.

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When will Leona Maguire tee off in the first round?

Leona Maguire ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Source: Getty)

Leona Maguire is paired with Great Britain's Georgia Hall and South Africa's Ashleigh Buhai. This group will tee off at 12:17 pm local time (6:17 am ET) in the first round of the women's golf event at Le Golf National's Albatross Golf Course.

Maguire is competing at her third Olympic Games as she represented Team Ireland at the 2016 Rio Olympics and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Her best finish at the Olympics came in Rio as she finished T21 for the event, and T23 at the previous Games.

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Tee times for round one of the 2024 Paris Olympics women's golf

Tee times for all golfers competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics women's golf event are listed below. All tee times are in ET.

3 a.m.: Perrine Delacour, Stephanie Meadow, Manon de Roey

3:11 a.m.: Pei-Yun Chien, Nanna Koerstz Madsen, Anne van Dam

3:22 a.m.: Aditi Ashok, Gaby Lopez, Esther Henseleit

3:33 a.m.: Shannon Tan, Maria Fassi, Celine Borge

3:44 a.m.: Hannah Green, Charley Hull, Rose Zhang

3:55 a.m.: Nelly Korda, Jin Young Ko, Ruoning Yin

4:11 a.m.: Hyo Joo Kim, Brooke Henderson, Xiyu Janet Lin

4:22 a.m.: Patty Tavatanakit, Linn Grant, Carlota Ciganda

4:33 a.m.: Alessandra Fanali, Ashley Lau, Ursula Wikstrom

4:44 a.m.: Dottie Ardina, Noora Komulainen, Madelene Stavnar

4:55 a.m.: Wei-Ling Hsu, Diksha Dagar, Emma Spitz

5:06 a.m.: Azahara Munoz, Bianca Pagdanganan, Morgane Metraux

5:17 a.m.: Alexandra Forsterling, Albane Valenzuela, Emily Kristine Pedersen

5:33 a.m.: Klara Davidson Spilkova, Paula Reto, Mariajo Uribe

5:44 a.m.: Yuka Saso, Minjee Lee, Atthaya Thitikul

5:55 a.m.: Celine Boutier, Lilia Vu, Amy Yang

6:06 a.m.: Lydia Ko, Miyu Yamashita, Maja Stark

6:17 a.m.: Leona Maguire, Georgia Hall, Ashleigh Buhai

6:28 a.m.: Ana Belac, Sara Kouskova, Alena Sharp

6:39 a.m.: Ines Laklalech, Sarah Schober, Pia Babnik