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The ANA Inspiration LPGA tournament is Patty Tavatanakit’s to lose after she extended her lead to five shots, with Leona Maguire enduring a difficult third round on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Thai golfer was only one shot clear headed into the third round, but wasted little time in giving herself some space as she birdied her first three holes at the Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
She picked up four more shots throughout the day, with two late bogeys bringing her final score to a five-under 67.
Maguire meanwhile sent out an early statement of intent with an eagle at the second, before giving both of those shots back before the turn.
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The 26-year-old then struggled on the way home, with five bogeys meaning she signed for a 74, leaving here on two under par for the Tournament in a share of 33rd place - 12 off the lead.
Maguire of a stroke ahead of Stephanie Meadow, who carded a 71 on Saturday and shares 39th place.
America’s Ally Ewing and South Korea’s Mirim Lee are both second on nine under after carding scores of 66 and 68 respectively.
Meanwhile England’s Charley Hull was left to rue a costly triple bogey on the third as she fell to equal-fifth with a one-under 71.
Elsewhere at the Augusta National Women's Amateur, Olivia Mehaffey earned a top-10 finish as she ended in ninth-place following a final round of 75 on Saturday.
She was just two strokes off the top of the leaderboard, where Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani and America’s Emilia Migliaccio finished one shot clear of the chasing pack on one over par.
Kajitani took victory on the first playoff hole, the 18th.
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Valero Texas Open
Some spectacular putting lifted England’s Matt Wallace to a share of the lead heading into the final round of the Valero Texas Open.
After a slow front nine, Wallace was locked in with his putter down the stretch, birdying three of his final four holes from lengthy distances to close out Saturday at 12 under alongside Jordan Spieth.
The American also left it until late to make a move, picking up four shots in his last five holes to match Wallace’s score of five under 67.
The pair sit two shots clear of America’s Charley Hoffman, who continued his rampage up the leaderboard with a stellar third round score of 65, highlighted by an eagle on the par five 14th.
Overnight leader Cameron Tringale dropped back to fourth after carding a one-over 73.
Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell had his best round of the tournament on Saturday to improve to equal-26th.
The 41-year-old shot a bogey-free 69 to rise 18 spots with an overall score of two under, while Scotland’s Martin Laird carded an even par to head into the final round tied for 55th.
Collated third round scores & totals in the LPGA Tour ANA Inspiration (USA unless stated, Par 72):
202 Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 66 69 67
207 Mi-Rim Lee (Kor) 69 70 68, Ally Ewing 71 70 66
208 Shanshan Feng (Chn) 67 69 72
209 Ind-Bee Park (Kor) 70 69 70, Charley Hull (Eng) 69 69 71
210 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 69 70 71, Lydia Ko (Nzl) 70 69 71, Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 68 69 73, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 73 67 70
211 Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 72 71 68, Nelly Korda 71 70 70, Gabriela Ruffels (Aus) 72 70 69, Yu Liu (Chn) 71 71 69, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 72 68 71, Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 71 69 71
212 Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 72 72 68, Stacy Lewis 76 69 67, Hannah Green (Aus) 71 71 70, Brooke Henderson (Can) 75 69 68, Sophia Popov (Ger) 70 69 73, Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 68 70 74, Mi-Hyang Lee (Kor) 73 71 68, Megan Khang 68 73 71, Linnea Stroem (Swe) 75 69 68, Jaye Marie Green 71 71 70
213 Pernilla Lindberg (Swe) 72 72 69, Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 71 70 72, Mi-Jung Hur (Kor) 71 71 71, Jessica Korda 69 76 68, Christina Kim 70 70 73, Gerina Piller 70 72 71
214 Austin Ernst 73 68 73, Melissa Reid (Eng) 71 73 70, Leona Maguire (Irl) 67 73 74, Azahara Munoz (Spa) 70 72 72, Ryann O’Toole 71 71 72, Daniela Holmqvist (Swe) 70 70 74
215 Danielle Kang 72 70 73, Angela Stanford 72 73 70, Amy Olson 73 69 73, Stephanie Meadow (NIrl) 71 73 71, Lauren Stephenson 71 72 72, Yui Kawamoto (Jpn) 71 69 75, Hyo-Joo Kim (Kor) 72 73 70, Angel Yin 72 73 70
216 Brittany Lincicome 73 70 73, Georgia Hall (Eng) 69 70 77, Min-Jee Lee (Aus) 72 70 74, Celine Boutier (Fra) 75 69 72, Amy Yang (Kor) 70 73 73, Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 70 75 71
217 Alexis Thompson 70 72 75, Hee-Young Park (Kor) 73 72 72, Maria Torres (Pur) 73 72 72, Caroline Masson (Ger) 73 71 73, Cydney Clanton 74 70 73, Jenny Shin (Kor) 71 74 72, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 72 72 73, Yuka Saso (Phi) 69 71 77
218 Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 75 69 74, Jennifer Song 72 72 74, Jennifer Kupcho 69 72 77, Nicole Broch Larsen (Den) 71 74 73
219 Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 68 75 76, Bronte Law (Eng) 69 74 76, Cristie Kerr 72 73 74, Kristen Gillman 72 73 74
220 Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 72 72 76, Kelly Tan (Mal) 71 73 76, Aditi Ashok (Ind) 73 72 75
Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Valero Texas Open (USA unless stated, Par 72):
204 Jordan Spieth 67 70 67, Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 68 67
206 Charley Hoffman 75 66 65
208 Cameron Tringale 66 69 73
209 Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71 69 69
210 Lucas Glover 73 67 70,
210 Tom Hoge 68 76 66,
210 Matt Kuchar 70 70 70,
210 Gary Woodland 71 72 67
211 Chesson Hadley 73 72 66, Chris Kirk 72 72 67, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 68 74 69, Brandt Snedeker 72 67 72, Kyle Stanley 71 68 72, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 71 68 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 64 76 71
212 Corey Conners (Can) 71 74 67, Brandon Hagy 70 70 72, Keith Mitchell 72 69 71, Kevin Stadler 69 70 73
213 Rickie Fowler 76 68 69, Troy Merritt 76 69 68, Ryan Palmer 72 71 70, Doc Redman 72 68 73, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 70 73 70
214 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 72 73 69, Keegan Bradley 71 73 70, Joseph Bramlett 72 73 69, Adam Hadwin (Can) 70 73 71, Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 66 76 72, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 72 70, Kelly Kraft 75 71 68, Luke List 73 71 70, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 74 73, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 74 71 69, Martin Trainer 70 74 70, Jimmy Walker 72 72 70, Rafael Campos (Pur) 72 74 68
215 K. J. Choi (Kor) 72 74 69, Cameron Davis (Aus) 71 71 73, Lanto Griffin 75 71 69, Patton Kizzire 71 74 70, Pat Perez 70 73 72, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 71 70 74, Scottie Scheffler 68 78 69, Vaughn Taylor 71 74 70, Vincent Whaley 69 76 70, Greyson Sigg 73 72 70
216 Branden Grace (Rsa) 75 71 70, John Huh 72 73 71, Denny McCarthy 71 74 71, Matthew NeSmith 73 71 72, Chase Seiffert 72 70 74, Sam Fidone 74 72 70
217 Tyler Duncan 73 71 73, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 73 72, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 67 76 74, Sepp Straka (Aut) 71 72 74, Nick Taylor (Can) 73 70 74
218 Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 74 71 73, Doug Ghim 74 72 72, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 70 74 74, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 73 74, Scott Stallings 77 69 72, Ben Martin 73 73 72, Tain Lee 73 73 72
219 Rafael Cabrera (Spa) 70 71 78, Cameron Champ 77 69 73, Joel Dahmen 74 72 73, Beau Hossler 74 72 73, Tom Lewis (Eng) 73 72 74, D. J. Trahan 74 71 74, Bo Van Pelt 74 72 73
220 Aaron Wise 75 70 75
221 Ryan Moore 71 72 78
222 Brendan Steele 70 76 76
223 Will Gordon 72 74 77, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 74 72 77
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