Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow is one day away from a home win at the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle.
The Jordanstown native began the day tied for the lead and following a third round 67 she has opened a four shot advantage over Eleanor Givens (ENG).
“I won’t do anything different tomorrow,” she said. “I’ll try and make as many birdies as I can. I got advice one time about being in the lead, ‘You try to kill them, leave nothing to chance’, she laughed. “Yeah Christie Kerr told me that. Maybe I should try and stick to that tomorrow.”
Meadow will have home support in the final round at Galgorm Castle, however one player she will have in her rear-view mirror is English woman Charley Hull. The Solheim Cup player has quietly crept up the leaderboard all week but her 5-under 68 today has her firmly in contention.
“I hit it so bad but managed to make a score, I only hit 10 greens but still had nine birdies. Days like this you rely on the short game and your putting.”
Leona Maguire will also be on the radar of Meadow tomorrow. Her 2-under today par round today included just one bogey and the 24-year-old will have one thing on her mind when she tees off just before the final group tomorrow.
Amateurs Annabel Wilson (Lurgan) and Josh Hill (Galgorm Castle) unfortunately felt the effect of the high wind and rain delays today. However Lauren Walsh (Castlewarden) carded two birdies in her closing four holes to finish on 2-under par and in a tie for 10th.
“I’m happy enough with today, I played solid to start but didn’t take advantage of the par 5 9th and 10th when the rest of the field was. Although if you’d have told me at the start of the week I’d be in the position I’m in, I would definitely have taken it.”
Todd Clements (ENG) and Damien Perrier (FRA) will battle for top spot in the men’s event as the pair finished 9-under par.
Cormac Sharvin is best of the home players but will need a fast start to his final round on Sunday. With an eagle on the 18th hole, he added a level par 70 to his opening rounds of 68 and 71, enough for a tie for 26th on 1-under.
Jacob Glennemo fired the low score of the day. The Swede made the cut on the mark but a 6-under par 64 has him tied for sixth with 18 holes to play.
Just 70 players and ties will play the final round, after which both winners will receive a cheque for $40,000.
It’s no surprise that slow play has been a topic of conversation in golf-land following the DeChambeau vs. Koepka debacle on the PGA Tour. Sharvin admits it’s a problem on tours at all levels.
“It was pretty slow out there, I think we were two holes ahead of the group behind, something has to be done.”
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