Leona Maguire will have a chance to win the biggest first prize in women’s golf after a bogey-free 66 left her just two shots off the lead heading into the final round of the $5 million CME Group Tour Championship in Florida.
Tied for 19th overnight, eight shots behind her former college team mate Celine Boutier, the Co Cavan star overcame tough, blustery conditions at Tiburón Golf Club in Naples, knocking in birdies at the third, fourth, sixth, eighth, 10th and 18th in a six-under round.
A superstar for Europe’s winning Solheim Cup team this year, the 26-year-old finished the day tied for seventh on 12-under par, two strokes behind a quartet of leaders in Boutier (72), Japan’s Nasa Hataoka (64) and the two players vying for the Rolex Player of the Year award, world number two Jin Young Ko (66) and world number one Nelly Korda (67).
Maguire can still win her maiden LPGA title and the biggest first prize in women’s golf - a whopping $1.5 million (€1.32m). But while she believes she’s going to have to go low again on Sunday, she’s no stranger to low numbers after closing with a 10-under 61 in July’s Amundi Evian Championship and opening with an eight-under 62 in last week’s Pelican Women’s Championship.
“I think it’s the toughest day so far,” Maguire said after rolling in a 15-footer for birdie at the 18th for her career-low round at Tiburón. “It was windy, it was gusty. I had to stay really patient, and I feel like we did a pretty good job sort of judging the wind, picking our targets, and executed pretty well.
“(Tomorrow) all depends on the wind. There is a lot of great golfers ahead of me on the leaderboard and around me, so it’s going to take another low one.
“At the same time, it’s a golf course you have to stay really patient on, take your chances when you get them, and be smart about it. So that’s the kind of golf I like, so excited for another day.”
She had a chance to claim her maiden title in the Pelican Women’s Championship last week but while she faded to tied 28th following a final round 75, she’s treating this week as a bonus.
“I tried to take as many positives from last week as I could,” added Maguire, who has had five top-10s, including two runner-up finishes this season.
“I didn’t finish the last round off as well as I would’ve liked, but I know my game is in good shape and just need to hole a few putts.
“I didn’t hole any yesterday, but a few more dropped today, so, yeah, one more good round tomorrow to finish off the season hopefully.”
Just three strokes cover the top-12 on the leaderboard and it promises to be a thrilling finale.
Ko needs a second place finish or better to have a chance of denying Korda the Rolex Player of the Year award and after making seven birdies in a row from the second on the front nine, she bogeyed the ninth and parred her way home to share the lead.
Olympic champion Korda made five birdies, two bogeys and an eagle three at the 17th to draw level at the top of the leaderboard despite having little luck on the greens as she seeks her fifth LPGA win this year.
“I felt like I was struggling a little all day not kind of converting any putts and kind of not hitting it too great, but that eagle definitely helped,” Korda said.
Collated third round scores in the LPGA CME Group Tour Championship, Tiburon Golf Club, Naples, Florida, United States of America (USA unless stated, Par 72):
202 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 69 67 66, Nelly Korda 66 69 67, Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 69 69 64, Celine Boutier (Fra) 65 65 72
203 Gaby Lopez (Mex) 66 68 69, Mina Harigae 65 69 69
204 Alexis Thompson 67 69 68, Leona Maguire (Irl) 67 71 66, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 68 69 67
205 Min-Jee Lee (Aus) 66 68 71, Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 64 71 70, Megan Khang 67 69 69
206 Georgia Hall (Eng) 67 68 71
207 Danielle Kang 71 66 70, Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 68 69 70, Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 67 68 72, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 69 69 69
208 Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 65 73 70, Ally Ewing 68 68 72, Ind-Gee Chun (Kor) 69 69 70, Madelene Sagstroem (Swe) 69 70 69, Su-Hyun Oh (Aus) 68 70 70, A-Lim Kim (Kor) 71 67 70, Brittany Altomare 69 69 70, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 70 67 71,
209 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 69 68 72, Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 66 72 71, Hannah Green (Aus) 66 73 70, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 70 72 67, Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha) 66 72 71,
210 Lizette Salas 70 69 71, Ryann O’Toole 72 67 71, Lauren Stephenson 69 71 70
211 Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 68 73 70, Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 71 71 69, Brooke Henderson (Can) 71 70 70, Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 66 73 72, Charley Hull (Eng) 69 75 67, Yu Liu (Chn) 71 69 71,
212 Jessica Korda 68 69 75, Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 70 71 71, Yuka Saso (Phi) 66 73 73, Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 73 69 70, Jennifer Kupcho 65 78 69, Yealimi Noh 72 70 70, Jenny Shin (Kor) 72 72 68, Amy Olson 74 70 68,
213 Caroline Masson (Ger) 71 70 72, Chella Choi (Kor) 69 72 72
215 Esther Henseleit (Ger) 70 70 75
216 Amy Yang (Kor) 72 68 76, Emma Talley 70 74 72
217 Matilda Castren (Fin) 70 77 70
218 Hyo-Joo Kim (Kor) 69 72 77, Austin Ernst 72 75 71
219 Elizabeth Szokol 71 73 75
220 Stacy Lewis 69 74 77, Sophia Popov (Ger) 77 75 68
222 Jennifer Coleman 73 75 74
