Moving day Saturday proved to be just that at Palos Verdes GC with an ever-changing leaderboard and some big climbers, but Leona Maguire couldn’t consolidate her fine round on Friday, and she’ll be playing catchup as she slipped just outside the top 10 heading into the final day.
Speaking after her Friday round Maguire mentioned that: “It doesn’t take much on this golf course to go a shot either way.” These words would turn out to be prophetic as this was the story for much of the day for both Maguire and playing partner Madalene Sagstrom. And it was Maguire’s approach play that would again be a sticking point. Just seven greens in regulation and several visits to the bunkers meant she would have to battle hard to stand still. Her playing partner, who led for much of their opening nine, came unstuck with a run of bogeys and a double leaving her back on -4 and tied for 15th. Noting this Maguire can be commended for her battling round to leave herself only four back with the course playing as tough as it was.
Bogeys on the second and sixth holes would see her make the turn at +2 for the day. She would battle back with a better homeward nine, trading three birdies and two bogeys to see her finish one-over for the day and -5 overall, just four back from leaders, Korean, Jiaiy Shin and Alison Lee.
Shin would have one of the rounds of the day with a bogey-free -8 on a day the course was fighting back. A run of five birdies on the bounce on her front nine with three more to come in her final four holes would see the 35-year-old post an eye-catching -9 for the tournament. Meanwhile Californian Alison Lee, one of the UCS players familiar with this course, would use that knowledge to navigate her way around to match Shin’s -9 leading score at end of play.
Defending champion Ruoning Yin is not going to let her title go without a fight with another fine round see her at the top of the leaderboard on -10 for much of her back nine and looked set to take the overnight lead as she approached the final tee. However, having found thick rough in the trees on the right side of the 18th, a disappointing triple bogey would see the Chinese drop back to seven-under and tied for third going into the final day.
Co-leader shin, having last played a full LPGA schedule eleven years ago, and appears here this weekend as a sponsor’s pick spoke after her round about her electric start: “Well, I knew the wind is blowing pretty hard today, so that’s why beginning of the day I’m thinking, ‘okay, I need to birdie only’.””
After such challenging conditions on an already difficult course, Maguire can take heart from her battling today and will look to get her irons under control on Sunday. The leader, Shin, proves there is a low round to be had here and that will be the aim as she looks to close the gap. Maguire tees up with Lindy Duncan and Japan’s Ayaka Furue at 8.37am (local time).
Tidy up the short game, keep hitting fairways and take any chances that present themselves and she could still feature at the top this weekend.
Leave a comment