Leona Maguire storms into contention with superb 65 at Women’s Irish Open

The special ones find a way. Cue Leona Maguire. As the poster girl of this KPMG Women’s Irish Open at Dromoland Castle, the Solheim Cup star performed to her star billing with a brilliant third round 65 for a 54-hole total of nine-under-par 207 that that took her out of the shadows and back into the spotlight — and right into contention.

Following the disappointment of a 75 on Friday, after which Maguire — who’d travelled eight time zones back from Oregon and battled jet lag — took a three-hour afternoon nap and recharged the batteries, the Cavan woman used the spark of a chip-in birdie on the 12th to transform her third round and then finished birdie-birdie-eagle-par-birdie from the 14th to propel her into a challenging position, two shots adrift of leader Ann Van Dam.

Maguire, the world number 18 and a winner of the Drive On Championship on the LPGA Tour earlier this year and with top 10s in both the US Open and AIG British Open on her formline, finally got the momentum she needed with that chip-in birdie as he moved from 42nd starting the day into tied-eighth and within touching distance of the big-hitting Dutch golfer who shot a 70 for 205.

“Massive,” is how Maguire described that pitch which rattled the flagstick and dropped in for a birdie that provided the catalyst for the charge home. “Golf is a funny game. Yesterday I felt like I couldn’t do anything right and today everything came off on the back nine. Hopefully we can have more that [in the final round] and give all the people who came out to support me something to cheer about,” she said.

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For sure, the energy from the large galleries found a way to the player who has taken on the load of headlining this championship. In making the comparison with how the Irish men’s professionals get to “share the burden” of home expectations, Maguire continued: “It’s just me this week and hopefully there will be a few more [Irish women players] in the coming years ... it’s been great having the crowds cheering me on, good or bad. I was disappointed [after the third round]. We down to Bunratty for dinner and we met a man out walking his dog and he said, ‘I know you’re disappointed but you have no idea the amount of people who are rooting for you’.”

Maguire had made the turn in one under on her round and had failed to birdie the par 5 11th, only to make amends with a chip-in for birdie on the 12th. It was at that point that her caddie Dermot Byrne gave a piece of advice. “He said to me on the 13th tee that we were going to be brave and to start going at the pins, that we had nothing to lose ... at least I have made up some ground,” said Maguire, who’d set a target of 20 under at the start of the week as a possible winning score.

“I’ll try to get as close to that as possible,” she added.

Aside from the chip-in birdie on the 12th, which was followed by birdies on the 14th and 15th before hitting a brave 3-wood approach to 10 feet to set up an eagle on the 16th. A poor second shot on the Par 5 18th seemed to have ruined any chance of a grandstand finish. Not a bit of it. Maguire’s third shot finished 17 feet from the pin and she rolled in the birdie putt, pumping the air to leave no one in any doubt of how much it meant. She was back in the game.

3rd Round Scores

205 — A Van Dam (Neth) 67 68 70

206 — J Karlsson (Swe) 71 68 67, A Dimmock (Eng) 66 72 68, N Broch Estrup (Den) 70 66 70 U Wikstrom (Swe) 69 66 71, C Alonso (Sp) 69 65 72, M Folke (Swe) 70 62 74

207 — Leona Maguire 67 75 65, S Schober (Aut) 70 67 70, F Johnson (Eng) 71 66 70, C Wolf (Aut) 67 69 71, K Spilkova (Cze) 66 68 73, S Tarning Soenderby (Den) 69 65 73

208 — G Cowley (Eng) 67 73 68, C Williams (Wal) 67 71 70, L Pettersson (Swe) 71 67 72, L Grant (Swe) 71 67 72,

210 — P Babnik (Slo) 70 72 68, L Galmes (Sp) 71 71 68, M MacLaren (Eng) 70 72 68, N Dlamini (Swz) 73 67 70, J Gustavsson (Swe) 68 71 71, L Harm (Ger) 70 69 71, R Davies (Eng) 70 69 71

211 — M Hernandez (Sp) 73 67 71, L Beveridge (Scot) 69 71 71, B Brewerton (Wal) 71 69 71, O Cowan (Ger) 68 70 73, E Arvidsson (Swe) 67 70 74

212 — V Kapoor (Ind) 72 70 70, L Young (Eng) 71 70 71, C Gainer (Eng) 68 72 72 A Swayne (ISV) 65 75 72, N Garcia (RSA) 68 72 72, C Alexandra (RSA) 70 69 73

213 — S Witt (Ger) 72 71 70, M Stavnar (Nor) 74 69 70, M Simmermacher (Arg) 71 72 70, C Hedwall (Swe) 71 71 71, H Kreuzer (Ger) 72 70 71, A Palaez Trivino (Sp) 70 71 72, M Sangkapong (Thai) 68 72 73

214 — T Koivisto (Fin) 70 73 71, M De Rey (Bel) 74 68 72, C Chevalier (Fr) 70 72 72, L Osala (Fin) 70 69 75

215 — M Prat (Sp) 71 72 72, B Morgan (Wal) 71 72 72, T Malik (Ind) 73 69 73, H Burke (Eng) 70 71 74

216 — VE Carta (It) 72 71 73, A Sauzon (Fr) 71 70 75

217 — M Thomson (Scot) 67 76 74, N Komulainen (Fin) 72 70 75, M Martin (Sp) 69 73 75

218 — T Melecka (Cze) 71 71 76, L Malchirand (Fr) 73 68 77, S Bringner (Swe) 69 70 79

219 — M Skarpnord (Swe) 68 74 77

WD — J Melichova (Cze)