Lisa and Leona Maguire are making their fourth appearance in a professional Ladies European Tour event this week at the ISPS Handa Portugal Ladies Open.

The 16-year-old twins from Slieve Russell were invited after Leona won the 2011 Portuguese Ladies Amateur Open at nearby Aroeira by 15 strokes in late January. It is their first appearance on the LET outside of Northern Ireland or Ireland.

Lisa said: “It’s a great opportunity. We always love coming to play a pro event because it’s a totally different experience and to be able to play with some of the best players in Europe is pretty amazing. Hopefully we can play our best this weekend and see where it goes.

Leona added: “It’s a very nice country. I really like the courses over here and this week, the course isn’t too dissimilar to the one I won on in January. The weather is quite nice and I really like the course so hopefully Portugal is good to me again.

“I was playing really good that week. I’ve played well all season this year so hopefully I can keep that going. I’m pretty happy with my game so we’ll drop a few putts and see what happens.”