LEONA MAGUIRE IS six shots off the lead while Stephanie Meadow has missed the cut at the LPGA Ford Championship in Arizona.
Spain’s Carlota Ciganda conjured two eagles in a six-under-par 66 to share the third-round lead with Kim Hyo-joo and Sarah Schmelzel.
In windy conditions that world number one Nelly Korda branded “brutal,” Ciganda added three birdies, chipping in for a birdie at 18 for her share of the lead on 15-under-par 201.
Kim birdied three of the first four holes then parred the last 14 for a three-under-par 69.
Schmelzel, gunning for a first LPGA title in her hometown tournament at Seville Golf and Country Club just outside Phoenix, had four birdies in her two-under-par 70.
Ciganda, whose two LPGA tournament wins came in 2016, got her round going with an eagle at the fifth and kept climbing with birdies at seven and 13. After a bogey at the 14th, she rolled in a 12-foot eagle putt from off the green at 16.
In all, 34 players are within five shots of the lead going into Sunday’s final round, when rain is in the forecast.
Maguire is just outside that, on nine-under overall in a tie for 35th.
The Cavan star shot a round of 71 yesterday — equalling her opening day tally with a sizzling 65 in between.
It was an eventful back nine for Maguire: she carded eagles on the 11th, 16th and 18th, and back-to-back bogeys on holes 14 and 15.
Meadow, meanwhile, missed the cut after consecutive rounds of 72.
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Elsewhere, world number one Scottie Scheffler — chasing a third straight US PGA Tour title — rebounded from a late double-bogey with back-to-back birdies to join a five-way tie for the lead at the Houston Open on Saturday.
For the second day in-a-row Scheffler had a double-bogey on his card, but the American’s four-under par 66 was enough to put him atop the board on nine-under 201 alongside England’s David Skinns, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti and Belgian Thomas Detry.
Skinns had five birdies in his bogey-free 65 at Memorial Park, Jaeger had six birdies and two bogeys in his four-under 66, Tosti shook off an early double-bogey with five birdies in a two-under 68 and Detry had four birdies and a bogey in his three-under 67.
Scheffler, who was frustrated to end his second round on Friday with a double-bogey at 18, had six birdies and a bogey in his first 12 holes to cruise to the top of the leaderboard at 10-under.
He was tied for the lead after a bogey at 13 and ran afoul of the short par-three 15th — which played as the toughest hole on the course on Saturday.
Scheffler’s tee shot hit the green some six feet from the hole but spun off the putting surface and into the water.
He would take double-bogey to drop two shots off the pace, but responded by reaching the green in two on the way to a birdie at the par-five 16th and drilling a four and a half foot birdie putt at 17.
“Feel like I did a lot of stuff really well out there today,” Scheffler said. “Feel like I played better than my score.
“I had a few shots I didn’t really get rewarded for and somewhat punished for some pretty good shots.
“Overall it was nice to finish with those two birdies. Hit a really good shot into 16, good shot into 17 — yeah, felt like I did a lot of things well today.”
Pádraig Harrington missed the cut after two rounds.
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- Additional reporting by Emma Duffy
