Stephanie Meadow returned a superb blemish-free four-under par round of 68 to move inside the top-20 ahead of the final round of the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio, the first full-field event of the season.
Making her first appearance of the new LPGA season, the Jordanstown professional carded four birdies in a round where she found 11 of 14 fairways and needed just 25 putts to move to five-under par for the tournament and into a tie for 19th with one round to go in Florida.
Leona Maguire had earlier missed the cut on Friday after battling back bravely from a 79 in round one with a five-under par 67 on day two to just miss out on the halfway mark by a single stroke.
Madelene Sagstrom shot a five-under 67 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead into the final round at 15-under par, 10 clear of Meadow.
Seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, Sagstrom birdied four of the first eight holes and also birdied the par-4 15th in a bogey-free round. The 27-year-old Swede hit all 18 greens in regulation.
“I was in this situation a few times on Symetra, and it’s just to keep the same game plan,” said Sagstrom, a three-time winner on the Symetra Tour in 2016. “Don’t go out and change anything, just keep doing what you’re doing, because you’re obviously doing something right if you’re on top of the leaderboard.”
Sagstrom had a 15-under 201 total. The former LSU player opened with a 72, then shot a career-best 62 on Friday at rain-softened Boca Rio Golf Club.
“I was telling myself this morning that, `I didn’t play perfect yesterday, but I still shot 62. I didn’t play perfect today and I still shot a 67,'” Sagstrom said. “So, it’s not about being perfect, it’s about having a lot of acceptance and just going out and do the best I can.”
Nasa Hataoka of Japan was second after 67.
Full scoring HERE
Leave a comment