Leona Maguire conceded she needs to be more aggressive and hole more putts after a two-under 68 saw her fall four strokes behind Lexi Thompson and world number one Nelly Korda heading into the final round of the Pelican Women's Championship in Florida.
As Stephanie Meadow shot 66 to give herself a fighting chance to keep her LPGA Tour card, Maguire made four birdies in a two-under-par effort but fell back to solo eighth on 12 under.
The Cavan star reckons she could need to repeat her opening 62 to have a chance of clinching that maiden LPGA Tour win as Thompson made six birdies in a five-under 65 and Korda racked up eight in a best-of-the-day, seven-under 63 to lead by a shot from Jennifer Kupcho (66) on 16 under par.
Playing in the penultimate group, Maguire never got much momentum as playing partners Mi Hyang Lee and Matilda Castren struggled to rounds of 73 and 72 respectively at Pelican Golf Club near Tampa.
“Bit of a slow day,” said Maguire, who birdied the sixth and ninth but came home in level par as birdies at the 14th and 17th were cancelled out by bogeys at the par-three 12th and 15th holes.
“I gave myself a few chances early on but didn’t really hole any putts; didn’t get any momentum going.
“I feel like I been hitting it nice, giving myself lots of chances and just need to hole a few more putts really. I’ve probably been a little bit tentative, so maybe I will be a little bit more aggressive tomorrow. Four back probably needs another 62 tomorrow. We’ll go out early and try and post a number.”
It was a far better day for 29-year-old Jordanstown star Meadow, who lies 101st in the Race to CME Globe points list with only the top 100 on Sunday night avoiding a trip to the Q-Series.
After making 18 pars in a second successive 70 on Friday, Meadow putted better in round three, carding five birdies in a four-under 66 to move to a projected 99th in the points standings.
She’s tied for 41st on four under par but believes she may need to get to 10 under to keep her card with a host of players bidding to break into the top 100 with a low final round.
“There is so much golf left,” added Meadow, who revealed she recently went back to an old college coach in Arizona. “I have 18 more holes, and it’s not just me; it’s everybody. There are other girls that can move me out, too.
“I think the most important thing is just to do my best and go as low as I can. I had 10 under in my head after yesterday finishing even through the cut, and so I’m thinking that leaves it not to chance.”
On the European Tour, Pádraig Harrington also needs a low final round after falling five strokes behind Denmark's Joachim B Hansen and Italy's Francesco Laporta heading into the final round of the Aviv Dubai Championship on the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Ranked 56th in the Race to Dubai, Harrington made six birdies and a bogey in a 67 to move up seven places to tied 10th on 14 under par.
However, he knows he may need to go even lower on Sunday with only the top 51 in the Race to Dubai qualifying for next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah’s Earth Course.
“I struggled a little bit and missed a few putts yesterday, so I was never that comfortable out there today,” said Harrington, who calculates he must finish in the top seven to make the Tour Championship for the first time in five years.
“I had not a great start, but I hung in there and played the par fives well, hit some good shots in and had some eagle chances.
“It was one of those days that it added up to a better score at the end of the day. I am just trying to stay patient, but it was a bit of a grind to get there, let’s say.”
Hansen and Laporta also shot 67s to lead by one stroke on 19 under par from defending champion Antoine Rozner of France, who shot 69.
With the top 23 on the leaderboard covered by just six shots, it promises to be a final-round shoot-out, and Harrington knows he has to find his putting touch.
“I’m going to hit some putts and some chips later on today and leave the golf alone as that seems to be fine,” said the Dubliner. “Then I’ll get my head in the right place for tomorrow.”
Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell made two birdie fours and a bogey in a 71 to slip to 59th in seven under, 12 shots behind Hansen and Laporta, who both made six birdies and a bogey in round three.
At the PGA Tour's weather-delayed Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open, Shane Lowry (two over), Graeme McDowell (three over) and Séamus Power (five over) all missed the one-over cut when the second round was eventually completed early on Saturday.
McDowell was on the one-over cut mark with six holes to complete when play was suspended on Friday but dropped two shots coming in, carding a 75 to miss his 11th cut from 19 starts this year.
Memorial Park Golf Course got the better of the field for the third day running with US Ryder Cup Scottie Scheffler on track for his maiden win after he followed a course record 62 with a one-under 69 to lead by one stroke from Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas (68), Matthew Wolff (69), Kramer Hickok (70), Kevin Tway (73) and overnight leader Martin Trainer (74) on seven under par.
LPGA Pelican Women’s Championship leaderboard
USA unless stated, Par 70
194 Nelly Korda 65 66 63, Alexis Thompson 65 64 65
195 Jennifer Kupcho 65 64 66
196 Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 64 67 65, Christina Kim 65 66 65
197 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 67 66 64, Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 68 65 64
198 Leona Maguire (Irl) 62 68 68
200 Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 67 66 67, Maria Fassi (Mex) 67 65 68
201 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 68 66 67, Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 68 64 69, Brooke Henderson (Can) 67 69 65, Jessica Korda 67 67 67, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 66 67 68, Lauren Coughlin 65 68 68
202 Danielle Kang 65 67 70, Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 66 64 72, Caroline Inglis 68 70 64, A-Lim Kim (Kor) 68 67 67, Yuka Saso (Phi) 68 64 70, Lauren Stephenson 68 68 66
203 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 69 68 66, Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 65 70 68, Jaye Marie Green 69 66 68, Matilda Castren (Fin) 67 64 72, Aditi Ashok (Ind) 67 71 65
204 Celine Boutier (Fra) 68 66 70, Mi-Hyang Lee (Kor) 69 62 73, Jodi Ewart (Eng) 72 64 68, Sarah Schmelzel 72 67 65, Esther Henseleit (Ger) 66 70 68
205 Yu Liu (Chn) 66 72 67, Caroline Masson (Ger) 69 68 68, Su-Hyun Oh (Aus) 68 64 73, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 71 66 68, Katherine Kirk (Aus) 70 67 68, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 70 69 66, Pavarisa Yoktuan (Tha) 68 67 70, Jennifer Song 70 66 69
206 Brittany Lincicome 68 70 68, Ally Ewing 68 67 71, Marina Alex 68 71 67, Annie Park 68 69 69, Ind-Gee Chun (Kor) 74 66 66, Madelene Sagstroem (Swe) 69 68 69, Pernilla Lindberg (Swe) 72 65 69, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 69 68 69, Albane Valenzuela (Swi) 69 68 69, Stephanie Meadow (N Irl) 70 70 66, Isabell Gabsa (Ger) 70 69 67
207 Lizette Salas 69 70 68, Brittany Altomare 67 69 71, Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 71 68 68, Amy Olson 69 66 72, Cheyenne Knight 70 68 69, Ryann O'Toole 69 68 70, Giulia Molinaro (Ita) 70 69 68, Perrine Delacour (Fra) 70 69 68
208 Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 73 66 69, Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha) 72 67 69, Nicole Broch Estrup (Den) 69 71 68, Alena Sharp (Can) 70 66 72, Melissa Reid (Eng) 75 63 70, Ssu-Chia Cheng (Tai) 67 72 69
209 Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 68 72 69, Azahara Munoz (Esp) 74 66 69, Lindy Duncan 72 66 71
210 Kristen Gillman 71 67 72
211 Emma Talley 70 70 71, Tiffany Chan (Hkg) 70 70 71
212 Megan Khang 70 69 73, Paula Reto (Rsa) 71 69 72
Aviv Dubai Championship leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 72
197 Joachim B Hansen (Den) 63 67 67, Francesco Laporta (Ita) 66 64 67
198 Antoine Rozner (Fra) 65 64 69
199 Kalle Samooja (Fin) 67 64 68
200 Tommy Fleetwood 66 66 68, Min-Woo Lee (Aus) 67 67 66
201 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 67 65, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 66 68, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 68 63
202 Paul Casey 68 68 66, Paul Waring 65 67 70, Pádraig Harrington 68 67 67, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 69 66 67, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 66 69, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 72 67 63
203 Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 67 69, Thorbjoern Olesen (Den) 67 68 68, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 70 69 64, Sam Horsfield 67 67 69, Andy Sullivan 65 71 67, Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 67 70 66, Matthew Jordan 69 67 67, David Coupland 67 69 67
204 Chris Wood 71 68 65, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 65 68 71, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 70 66, Marcus Armitage 68 69 67, John Catlin (USA) 69 67 68, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 69 66 69, Callum Shinkwin 66 69 69, Scott Jamieson 69 65 70, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 69 66
205 Sebastian Soederberg (Swe) 69 68 68, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 69 67 69, Robert MacIntyre 68 68 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 68 68, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 66 69 70, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 71 66, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 69 67 69, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 67 70 68, Robin Roussel (Fra) 69 64 72, Oliver Farr 69 66 70, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 69 70 66
206 Stephen Gallacher 70 69 67, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 69 69 68, Guido Migliozzi (Ita) 68 68 70, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 67 70 69, Jack Senior 70 66 70
207 Grant Forrest 69 65 73, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 67 70, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 71 70
208 Victor Perez (Fra) 70 68 70, Justin Harding (Rsa) 70 69 69, David Law 70 69 69, Jordan Smith 69 68 71, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 67 71 70, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 66 72, Ashley Chesters 68 66 74
209 Sami Valimaki (Fin) 71 68 70, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 66 71, Jeff Winther (Den) 72 66 71, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 67 72 70, Daniel Gavins 69 70 70, Jonathan Caldwell (N Irl) 71 67 71, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 67 73
211 Jorge Campillo (Esp) 71 64 76, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 70 72
213 James Morrison 68 70 75
214 Joel Stalter (Fra) 71 68 75
Houston Open leaderboard
USA unless stated, par 70
203 Scottie Scheffler 72 62 69
204 Kramer Hickok 67 67 70, Martin Trainer 65 65 74, Kevin Tway 67 64 73, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 67 69 68, Matthew Wolff 68 67 69
205 Russell Henley 65 72 68, Jason Kokrak 68 71 66, Luke List 65 71 69
206 Marc Leishman (Aus) 65 70 71, Adam Long 66 67 73, Adam Schenk 70 64 72, Vincent Whaley 69 72 65
207 Wyndham Clark 66 69 72, Kelly Kraft 68 67 72, Cameron Tringale 69 70 68, Max McGreevy 68 67 72
208 Sam Burns 70 67 71, Lee Hodges 69 72 67, Hank Lebioda 67 72 69, Cameron Smith (Aus) 71 69 68
209 Joel Dahmen 70 69 70, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 70 68 71, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 71 69 69, Maverick McNealy 71 68 70, Keith Mitchell 67 69 73, Ryan Palmer 71 70 68, Chez Reavie 70 69 70, Davis Riley 68 72 69, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 70 71 68, Kevin Streelman 71 69 69, Richy Werenski 70 69 70, Alex Smalley 68 72 69
210 Tom Hoge 68 70 72, Scott Piercy 71 70 69, Aaron Rai (Eng) 71 69 70, Patrick Reed 70 68 72, Robert Streb 68 71 71, Aaron Wise 73 66 71
211 Sung Jae Im (Kor) 68 70 73, Zach Johnson 72 69 70, Matthew NeSmith 68 67 76, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 69 72 70, Andrew Putnam 67 70 74, J. J. Spaun 72 66 73, Scott Stallings 71 70 70, Chris Stroud 74 67 70, Hudson Swafford 70 70 71, Sahith Theegala 70 71 70
212 Bronson Burgoon 72 69 71, Brian Harman 67 74 71, Harry Higgs 71 68 73, Max Homa 72 67 73, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 68 72 72, Denny McCarthy 72 69 71, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 71 69 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 73 71
213 M J Daffue (Rsa) 68 73 72, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 69 70 74
214 Tyler Duncan 69 72 73, Talor Gooch 65 74 75, Lanto Griffin 68 68 78, Brian Stuard 71 70 73, Nick Taylor (Can) 68 72 74
215 Jason Day (Aus) 67 74 74, Jim Herman 69 70 76
216 Brice Garnett 69 70 77
