Leona Maguire put herself in contention to win the biggest cheque in the history of women’s golf after a stunning third round of nine-under 63 gave the Irish star a share of the lead with Lydia Ko at the CME Group Tour Championship and put her firmly in sight of the $2 million (€1.935 million) first prize up for grabs on Sunday.
The 27-year-old from Cavan carded nine birdies and didn’t drop a shot at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida as she stormed up the leaderboard. It could have been even better for Maguire as she made par at two of the par-fives on the par-72 layout.
Windy conditions played into Maguire’s hands and with the wind set to be even stronger on Sunday, Maguire will fancy her chances of almost tripling her $1.26 million earnings this season and secure a second career win after her success at the LPGA Drive On Championship back in March.
Seven behind runaway overnight leader Ko, Maguire opened with a birdie on the par-five first hole and added a second on the third. Her round really clicked into gear from the eighth hole as she closed out the front nine with back-to-back birdies to turn in four-under 32 and get to 10 under for the tournament.
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There was to be no let-up as she birdied the 10th and 11th to make it four straight gains as she separated herself from the chasing pack in pursuit of Ko, who started the day with a five-shot lead.
With Ko struggling to gain any momentum in her third round, Maguire kept her foot down, making birdies on the 13th and par-three 16th – thanks to a long raking putt – before she captured the lead with a birdie on the par-five 17th after getting up and down from a greenside bunker.
A closing par four on the 18th left Maguire on 15 under, with Ko also making birdie on the 17th to get to 15 under on a day she could only manage a two-under 70 after rounds of 65 and 66 on Thursday and Friday.
“Yeah, I played really nice, my caddie has been talking a lot about patience this week and just committing to my targets. I did that really well today and, yeah, got a few rolling early on and got some momentum and nice to see a few drop,” said Maguire after her round.
When it was put to her that conditions might suit her on Sunday when the final groups will go out in three-balls, Maguire added: “We’ll have to wait and see how bad it gets but maybe a little rain, a little wind, nothing that I’m not used to from home in Ireland. So nice to get the really low round under my belt today and just try and go out and do more of the same tomorrow.”
Maguire will be looking for more of the same on Sunday after admitting that she came into the tournament a little under the radar.
“Just do what I did today, just try and hit really good shots and hopefully hold a few putts. We’ll see where Lydia gets to at the end of the day but ultimately just go out and play as well as I possibly can, especially if there’s bad weather, that’s all you can control. So [I’m] looking forward to one last walk of the season tomorrow.”
On the PGA Tour, Séamus Power carded a three-under 67 to get to 11 under and remains in contention at The RSM Classic in Georgia.
The Waterford golfer, the current leader on the FedEx Cup standings, was bogey-free on Saturday as he moved to 11 under to trail joint leaders Patrick Rodgers (64) and Ben Martin (65) by three shots at St Simons Island.
