Maguire falls nine off the pace after back nine frustration

Ronan MacNamara
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Leona Maguire: Ladies European Tour/Flickr

Ronan MacNamara

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Golf has a funny way of kicking you when you’re down. It might have been a different story for Leona Maguire on day three of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF but as her patience wore thin she had her momentum wrestled away from her on the back nine.

In the end, a disgruntled Maguire had to settle for a moving day 74 which has all but ended her chances of a maiden Ladies European Tour title as she fell nine shots behind Patty Tavatanakit at Riyadh Golf Club.

Teeing off four shots off the lead, Maguire wasted no time in cutting into the deficit, rolling in a birdie on the par-5 2nd. She was unable to build on a positive start, dropping a shot on the seventh as she struggled to get anything going.

A short par putt on the 10th used all of the hole, trying its best not to go in before it died of exhaustion into the bottom of the cup.

A gorgeous pitch on the par-5 12th set up a close range birdie effort which lipped out and she compounded that mistake by hitting a drive – which she appeared happy with – into the fairway bunker on 13. After drawing a bad lie she could only hack out of the sand and was unable to get up and down.

A poor bunker shot on the par-3 14th set up a second successive bogey and she stormed towards the 15th with the momentum firmly out of her sails.

It was a similar story to her opening 76 where she struggled on the greens and she has slumped from inside the top-5 to T21 on two-under-par.

At the top, Thai major champion Patty Tavatanakit has put clear daylight between herself and the field after she chiselled out a round of 69 to reach eleven-under-par and establish a three-shot lead over Germany’s Esther Henseleit who roared into the mix with an early 65.

Tavatanakit made her first birdie in round three on the second hole but she then made a bogey on the third.

However, she soon got into the groove again rolling in birdies on nine, 12 and 15 to take control.

“Overall, I was pleased with the mentality out there,” said Tavatanakit. “I feel like I had a really good mindset with how the round started. It was just kind of slow. I feel like I didn’t miss-hit a shot today. But on one hole, I went over the green, I just hit it too good.

“Looking back on the last few years, now still I feel like I’m still trying to get over that, but looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. If anything, it just put me where I need to be right now at the present moment. I’m really grateful for all the struggles because it taught me and I grew from it. I learned a lot and I’m a better person and player for it.

“I think tomorrow, all I want to do is make the right choices each and every shot, and whatever it is that I’m going to face, I’m up for it. I know it’s not going to be easy. Just making the right choices and commit to my processes is something I’m going to do tomorrow.”

One shot further back on seven-under is 2020 winner Emily Kristine Pedersen and Charley Hull who overcame a 01:30 plumbing issue in her hotel room to maintain her challenge with a 68.

 

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