Leona Maguire managed to shoot a shot-under-par on a low scoring day at the Amundi Evian Championship, as Cara Gainer and Gabriela Ruffels lead.
Despite hitting 10/13 fairways and 16/18 greens, Maguire’s putter stayed cold and 32 putts meant she couldn’t get any momentum going at the Evian Resort Golf Club.
Englishwoman Gainer, making her Evian debut, surged up the leaderboard with a stunning third-round 64 (-7), highlighted by an eagle on the 7th and six additional birdies.
“I made a great par save on the first which really settled my nerves”, said the LET winner. “Then I made a great putt on the second hole for birdie. I think one-under through two, kind of settled me down and I rolled a nice putt in again on four. My eagle putt was definitely a highlight of the day. I hit a great drive, a great hybrid into the green – about ten feet and holed the putt.”
Gainer was at Evian Resort Golf Club just a couple of months ago for the Jabra Ladies Open. She finished third there, so she said she had confidence coming from that tournament. She admitted it’s set up slightly differently this week, but has good feelings about this beautiful place.
She continued: “I think that win massively sort of propelled me I guess at the beginning of the year. I took a lot of confidence from that, having had quite a few close calls in the past. I think I just sort of, yeah, took loads of confidence and rolled with it the rest of the season.”
Away from the golf course, Gainer has been enjoying morning runs along the Lake Geneva. This week, she’s also had the support of her family, with her mum, dad, and fiancé by her side. A passionate tennis fan, she’s been keeping up with all the Wimbledon action – her evening plans sorted.
The Englishwoman was alongside home favourite Celine Boutier, so had a big crowd following her the whole way.
Heading into tomorrow, she doesn’t want to think about it too much.
“I want to play similar to today. I was pretty nervous playing with Celine [Boutier], obviously a home favourite. But I just want to take it one shot at a time like I’ve been doing the whole week and add it up at the end.”
Joining Gainer at the top heading into the final day of the major is Ruffels. The Aussie got off to a shaky start with a bogey on the opening hole but bounced back immediately with a birdie, then added six more to her impressive round.
“I’m having so much fun. This is what you practice for, what you play for. I’ve been working so hard, and it’s great to see the hard work pay off. This is the position you want to be in. I’m for sure looking forward to tomorrow.
“I think my ball striking has been good for a while, and it’s kind of showing this week as well as well as my putting. I’ve made a lot of putts inside 15 feet, which has been crucial.”
One shot behind in a tie for third place on 10-under par are four players including fellow Aussie’s Minjee Lee and Grace Kim, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, and South Korea’s Somi Lee.
Lee delivered a flawless, bogey-free performance to cap off a strong third round for the 2021 major champion.
“It was pretty steady. I didn’t make too many big mistakes. When I was a little off the fairway or green I was able to get up and down. I had a couple clutch par putts to keep my momentum going and it’s always nice to have a bogey-free round.”
Maguire tees off at 8.27am Irish time on Sunday as she looks to make up the four shots.
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