Leona Maguire fell seven shots off the pace at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship after she endured a tough third round at Sahalee.
The Cavan star is back on level-par and in a share of 14th place after a three-over 75 sent her tumbling down the leaderboard.
It was a slow start for Maguire, who is still searching for a first strokeplay top-10 finish to a slow season and se bogeyed the third, fifth and ninth holes to fall back to level-par and five shots off the pace at the time.
Last year’s 54-hole leader rallied with back to back birdies on the 11th and 12th to get to two-under and still within five of the lead but a double bogey on the par-3 17th for the second successive day has all but ended her hopes.
Amy Yang leads by two shots on seven-under-par after she ground out a round of 71.
The Korean carded three birdies and two bogeys to put some daylight between herself and rookie Lauren Hartlage and Miyu Yamashita.
Sarah Schemlzel is fourth on four-under while Lexi Thompson is part of a five-way tie for fifth on three-under.
Yang is still without a major championship and she might not get a better chance heading into the final round.
Yang has been thinking about winning majors since she was a little girl inspired by the accomplishments of trailblazer Se Ri Pak, a fellow Korean who started winning majors and did not stop until she was in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“I dreamed about playing here because of them,” Yang said. “I work hard for this. It’ll mean a lot, but we still got 18 more holes out there, and that’s a lot of golf left for major championship.
“I try not to think about it, but it does get into my head, and I get nervous, really nervous out there,” Yang said. “It’s nothing I can do but just embrace it. Embrace the feeling and just enjoy being out there.”
In her swangsong year before retirement, Thompson is looking to give the fans one more thrill at a major championship.
“Overall, solid day. I made some bogeys out there, some not-so-great shots I guess on the back nine off the tee, but made some great recovery shots and made some nice putts too.
“So just going to build on that. There was some tough pins out there, and of course the golf course is the golf course, so it’s tough.
“But, yeah, some of the shots coming into the greens, they tucked the pins and you really have to play to the middle of the green and give yourself 20, 25-footer as an opportunity.”
The American will be calling it a day at the end of the season and knows this could be her last chance to win another major after so many years of heartache.
“I can’t say it’s really possible on a golf course like this. As much as I would like to think that, I think it’s more of a golf course that you have to play smart and strategize on a few of the holes. Like I said, with some of the pins I’m sure they’ll tuck more tomorrow. You just have to play to the center of the green and give yourself 20, 25 feet and make a par and get out of there. Bonus make a birdie, make a lag putt.
“No, I am just going to play within myself. That’s all I can do. Yeah, might be my last one; might not. Who knows. It’s just day by day. Just going to go out there, embrace the fans, love the walk and see where it goes.”
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