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Leona Maguire battles her way into contention as Minjee Lee leads Women's PGA by four in Texas

Leona Maguire battles her way into contention as Minjee Lee leads Women's PGA by four in Texas

Irish Independent11 hours ago

The Co Cavan star (29) has plummeted 52 spots to 87th in the world rankings over the past year.
But while she missed four cuts in a row before arriving at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco, she knew she was playing better than her scores suggested.
"I feel like I've been actually playing really well for four or five weeks now," said Maguire, who goes into the final round tied for sixth on two-over, eight shots behind the impressive Australian Minjee Lee, who signed for a bogey-free, three-under 69 to lead by four strokes from Thailand's Jenno Thitikul on six-under.
"I've been telling my team and everybody I'm playing better than I'm scoring. And I feel like this week, it has come together a bit nicer.
"I like hard golf courses. I always have. I like the challenge. And this one is a challenge for sure, and it's nice to be able to execute the shots that I wanted.":
It was a trademark battling performance from the Ballyconnell woman, who looked set for a long day when she double-bogeyed the second and bogeyed the fifth to slip to five-over for the championship.
Rounds were taking six hours, but she birdied the seventh from five feet and never looked back as she made clutch par saves at the 11th and 14th before brushing in a four-footer for birdie at the 105-yard 17th.
"Obviously, I didn't get off to the best of start, but I accepted that everybody was going to make mistakes today, and at least I got mine out of the way early," she said.
"I didn't feel like I'd done a whole lot wrong to be three over through five and just stayed patient; tried to hit as many fairways and greens as I could, and made a really nice birdie on seven, and that kind of got the ball rolling."
At the Tipsport Czech Masters on the Ladies European Tour, Lauren Walsh carded a bogey-free, six-under 66 to go into the final round just four shots behind leader Kim Metraux.
The Castlewarden star (23) shares sixth place on nine-under at Royal Beroun Golf Club behind the Swiss talent, who carded a bogey-free 63 to lead by a shot from England's Emse Hamilton on 13-under.
Douglas' Sara Byrne carded a 70 to share 50th place on four-under with Olivia Mehaffey, who made ten birdies in a seven-under 65 — her best LET round in over two years

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