Day three of the Kroger Queen City Championship served up plenty of scoring opportunities, and the leaders were happy to oblige. Atthaya Thitikul retains her lead after another fine round [68] while Lydia Ko and Yan Liu snap at her heels, a couple back. Leona Maguire couldn’t maintain her charge, slipping back from the leaders, but will have plenty to play for on Sunday.
Maguire started her day steady, with a run of six pars to kick off her third round. A dropped shot followed on the par-3 seventh and one more on the ninth saw the two-time Tour Champion turn on two-over for the day, and losing ground to the charging leader. With 12 of 14 fairways hit and 13 GIR, the 29-year-old went on to leak one more on the par-four 13th.
As with yesterday however, Maguire was quick do dust herself off and grabbed one back shortly after, at the par-four 15th. She parred her way ashore to limit the damage to two-over for the day. The Cavan woman sits on four-under heading into the final day and, with a fine wind behind her on Sunday, could look to add to her five top-twenty-five finishes this season.
Thai sensation Thitikul was out of the traps hot on moving day, birdieing two of her opening three. See grabbed another on the eighth for a blemish free opening-nine of three-under. The 21-year-old was in cruise control, carding two more birdies on the 11th and again at the 15th. The next hole saw the first dropped shot of her day followed immediately by another on the next, the 17th. True to form she bounced straight back to reclaim one with birdie on her final hole to sit two clear from Ko on -16.
Like Thitikul, Ko too put together her third round in the 60’s with a three-under 69 of her own today. The 21-time Tour winner used all her decade of experience to stay in touch with the young Thai bolter on day three. Despite a dropped shot on her opener, the New Zealander recovered that to turn on par. Three birdies came on the back nine, including matching Thitikul’s on the 18th to keep her crucially, just two adrift in solo second heading into a blockbuster Sunday.
China’s Yan Liu lies in third spot after three rounds in the 60’s, like the two above her. Her four-under [68] pulled her up to -13 and one clear of the pair of Valenzuela and Ryu who share fourth position. With a chasing group of five on -11, such a tightly packed first page of the leaderboard bodes well for fireworks on the back nine on Sunday on TPC River’s Bend.
Valenzuela was on hand to assess her round of 68 that moved her into fourth spot. “I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well the last few days,” said the Swiss Solheim team member. “The last few months, I feel like my driver has been pretty solid. I hit some good iron shots. I wasn’t able to convert all the putts but still made a few here and there. I just tried to capitalize on the fact I could get shorter clubs into par 5s. Overall, happy with 68.”
The final round’s action will kick off at 13.15 Irish time on Sunday with a star studded opening three-ball of Minjee Lee, Lexi Thompson and Min Lee to whet the appetite. Maguire will head out at 14.10 with Finland’s Matilda Castren and Xiaowen Yin for company. She can take the handbrake off on her final day and attack TPC River’s Bend in order to elbow her way up the order with a strong finish. The leaders will hit the course at 15.27 in a free scoring three-ball featuring Thitikil, Ko and Liu. Expect fireworks if those three can replicate their form seen so far this week.
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