LEONA MAGUIRE’S FALTERING challenge for the Women’s PGA Championship Congressional Country Club in Maryland died during Saturday’s third round, as she struggled to a five-over round of 77 to leave her in a tie for 64th place. 

Stephanie Meadow, however, remains on the fringes of contention, her even-par 72 enough to leave her in a tie for tenth place and six shots behind leader Chun In-gee. 

Maguire needed to shoot low to clamber back into contention ahead of tomorrow’s final round, but her challenge blew up with a quadruple-bogey on the par-four third. She see-sawed from there, birdieing holes eight, nine, and 10 before undoing her good work with three-straight bogeys. She then clawed a shot back with a birdie on 15, only to bogey the par-five 16th and the 17th. 

Meadow, meanwhile, went out at level-par but found some momentum at the turn, birdieing holes 10 and 11. She then lost the ground she was making up by taking a double at 15, signing her card for an even-par 72. 

Chun In-gee will take a three-shot lead into the final round after battling to a three-over-par 75 in Saturday’s third round.

The South Korean world number 33 who dominated play over the first two days to open up a six-shot lead at the halfway stage, found the going tougher on Saturday. 

Although Chun led the field by as many as seven shots early in her round, she saw her advantage gradually shrink as she came down the stretch, with a bogey on the 15th and double-bogey on the 16th leaving her just three shots clear.

Chun recovered from that late wobble with pars on the 17th and 18th holes to leave her on eight under for the tournament with a 54-hole aggregate 208.

Chun’s round could have been worse had it not been for a superb recovery on the par-five 16th.

After a wayward second shot bounced into deep rough beyond the cart path, Chun pulled her third shot into undergrowth on the opposite side of the fairway.

She elected to take a penalty and replay the shot, but her fifth ended up in rough beyond the green.

That left the very real possibility of a triple-bogey eight, but Chun got up-and-down in two to stop the bleeding with a double-bogey.

Chun’s nervy third round has left a clutch of players with grounds for optimism heading into the final round.

Lexi Thompson and Koreans Choi Hye-jin and Kim Sei-young are in a three-way tie for second on five under 211.

Thompson overcame an early stumble that included two bogeys in her opening four holes to shoot a two-under-par 70.

A bogey-free back nine saw her move up the leaderboard with birdies on the 12th, 14th and 15th holes.

Choi also shot a two-under-par 70 while Kim finished with a one-under-par 71.

Australia’s Hannah Green is alone in fifth place on the leaderboard on four under after her even-par 72.

Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul had the day’s lowest score, shooting a four-under-par 68 that included six birdies.

Atthaya is tied for sixth on three under alongside Canada’s Brooke Henderson and the USA’s Jennifer Chang and Jennifer Kupcho.

– © AFP 2022, with reporting by Gavin Cooney