A disastrous back nine saw Leona Maguire slip down the leaderboard on day three of the Evian Masters after the 20-year-old had made a promising start to her round.

Maguire, who yesterday became the first lady golfer from the Republic of Ireland to make the cut at a major championship, got her third round off to a perfect start with a birdie at the par three second.

However, a double bogey six at the next looked as if it may derail her.

The world number one amateur is made of sterner stuff however and battled back magnificently, carding birdies on the fifth, sixth and ninth to go out in 33.

The Duke University undergraduate looked to attack the back nine and make her way up the leaderboard but that strategy backfired as a run of four bogeys in five holes from the 10th to the 14th saw her plummet to five over par for the tournament.

A closing run of four pars saw the Cavan native card a second successive 73 and currently sit tied-55th in the final major of the year.

Morgan Pressel currently tops the leaderboard at nine under par with South Korea's Amy Yang in hot pursuit, just one shot behind. The leaders are in the early stages of their rounds.