Áine Donegan will go into the final round of the LET’s PIF London Championship in sole possession of third place but eight adrift of leader Anna Huang who shot the low round of the day in the final group.
Rounds of 70 and 69 on the par-73 layout had the Clare woman tied for the clubhouse lead when she concluded her second round in the early wave on Friday, only for first-round leader Huang and Charley Hull to burst past and put clear daylight between themselves and the chasing pack.
Donegan then birdied two of her first six holes on moving day but back-to-back bogeys on seven and eight saw her reach the turn at level for the day but moving backwards on the leaderboard. She traded a birdie on 10 with a bogey on 11, and remained on level-par as she reached the final four holes which were bookended with par-5s.
She took care of the first, then birdied the par-4 16th, and par-3 17th, before taking care of the last to finish in a four-birdie blitz that catapulted her back up the leaderboard and into solo third at -11.
“It was good. I started off really solid the first six holes or so and had a little not great swing on seven which caused my first bogey,” said Donegan. “I was unlucky with my second shot on eight; I went long and didn’t hit a good first putt and pulled my second putt.
“I made a really good 10-footer on nine for par which looking back, I hit a really poor wedge shot and then that probably spurred us on a little bit for the back nine. We could have easily played a really good front nine and been one-over. That was a big putt on nine.
“It’s very rare you have a round of golf that doesn’t have a squeaky point in the middle. I knew I would probably get through that and then Harry [Ewing, Donegan’s caddie] kept me sane out there as well.
“We had really good communication again today and he said to me on 14, I want three birdies coming in now and then I birdied 15, 16 and 17. Walking to 18, I said when you asked for three, I wanted four. It was a nice way to finish, and I probably deserved a little bit of that.”
Despite the strong finish, Donegan trails Hull by five and Huang by eight going into the final round, but needs to be ready to capitalise should the leading duo open the door. Even if victory is off the cards, at 86th on the LET Order of Merit and with a strong allocation of points on offer, remaining inside the top five should be enough to secure her playing privileges for 2027.
Hull, who shot an astonishing 11-under 72 on Friday, made nine birdies and three bogeys to card a six-under 67 that saw her climb to -16 overall, but it was three-time LET winner Huang who stole the show.
Looking to go wire-to-wire, she began with a birdie at the first before adding another on the fourth hole.
She then made back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes before doing the same on the 14th and 15th holes.
The teenager, who won her third LET title in May, then made an eagle for the third day in a row on the 18th hole to lead by three strokes with one round remaining. If Huang were to win, she would be the youngest player to win four LET titles.
“I actually didn’t realise how low I went until I signed my scorecard today, which was pretty cool,” said Huang. “The crowds were really big, and it was really fun, I love playing in front of a lot of people and it really hypes me up. I had a good group with Charley [Hull] and Lydia [Hall]. They were definitely the crowd favourite, but it was really good to be in the group.
“18 has been good, I think I’m six-under in three days. It’s just really fun. I really like this course. You can be really aggressive on some holes and then on other holes you have to be more conservative, but it’s just a really nice course to play.
“I played with Charley once in Houston last year and there’s a lot to admire about her game. She’s really collected on the course mentally and she’s always doing her own thing and that’s something I can really learn from her. I’m going to have fun tomorrow and see what happens.”
Anna Foster shot a level-par 73 to remain at +1 and end the day tied for 32nd, while Sara Byrne dropped four shots over he final three holes to shoot a three-over 76 that saw her slip down to T51 at +4.
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