Leona Maguire will tee it up in the quarter-finals of the T-Mobile Matchplay presented by MGM Rewards as the number one seed after she was the leading player after 54-holes of strokeplay.
Maguire carded another round of 69 to sit top of the leaderboard by three shots on six-under-par and she was delighted with how she executed her game plan in 30mph winds.
“I think going out we knew it was going to be really tough and it was going to sort of test all aspects of the game and as much of as a mental challenge as anything out there. It’s an unbelievable golf course. It’s a major championship golf course, and you really have to execute your shots.
“When there is a 30 mile-per hour wind blowing and it’s swirling and all that, you have to be even more committed. Really happy with how I stuck to my game plan today.”
The Cavan woman dropped one shot in her third round and carded four birdies including closing with back-to-back birdies and she is relishing the conditions and feels right at home at Shadow Creek.
“Yeah, if it was like this every week I would be really happy. I think that was the mindset going out today was to enjoy the challenge of it really.
“On a day like today it’s very easy to get down and get negative and sort of feel sorry for yourself about how hard it is rather than embracing the challenge. These are the days you practice for, to pull off those shots when you need to.
“I mean, it’s great prep heading into The Chevron. This is one of my favorite courses we play all year. Just enjoying that I get to play it again tomorrow.”
Also through to the knockout stages are Minami Katsu, Angel Yin, Rose Zhang, Sei Young Kim, world number one Nelly Korda, Narin An and Moriya Jutanugarn.
Maguire will face Jutanugarn after the Thai woman came through a playoff against Hae Ran Ryu, Yuka Saso and Brooke Henderson.
A disappointing 78 saw Stephanie Meadow miss out on the 54-hole cut.
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