Making just her second cut of the year on the LPGA TOUR, Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow retained the consistency she showed so far this week with a two-under-par 70 on Saturday around Columbia Edgewater Country Club at the Portland Classic.
The Antrim native started on the back nine, making light work of the two early par-5s, the 10th and the 12th before parring her way to the half way point to take the turn at two-under.
The start to the front nine was the opposite of her back-nine beginning, with the 34-year-old bogeying the second and fifth to slip back to even par. However, situations like these are where Meadow has shown her resilience this week, quickly putting mistakes behind her and digging deep to respond. She did exactly that once again, bouncing back with consecutive birdies at the sixth and seventh.
Meadow has now gone 71-69-70 in Portland, as she sits T42 at six-under heading into the final round. Meadow hasn’t been in contention on the LPGA TOUR since 2023 when she finished T3 at the Women’s PGA Championship.
Although a miracle run to the top of the leaderboard is unlikely, Meadow will have some drive at the back of her mind as she does have an outside chance of securing her best finish of the year, bettering her T21 at the ShopRite in May.
Kildare’s Lauren Walsh looked a different player to earlier in the week as the 25-year-old posted another over-par round to drop to T60. Walsh showed electric form in the first round posting a 66, but she has since carded a 73 and a 74.
Walsh’s Saturday was pretty lacklustre as she unfortunately failed to make a single birdie in a round that saw bogeys at the 10th and third holes. Walsh sits at three-under heading into Sunday’s final round.
Both Sophia Schubert and Arpichaya Yubol share the lead at 16-under after posting a 67 and 68 respectively. Schubert birdied two of the final three holes in a late effort to join 36-hole leader Yubol. The pair are winless and are hoping for a momentous day on Sunday.
Playing together in the third round, Schubert and Yubol are looking forward to competing again in Sunday’s final grouping.
“I’m so excited. I can’t wait to play with her again. We had a great day today. She’s fun to play with. So I don’t know what it’s going to take, but I think for me personally, it’s just going to take being patient and calm and try to put a smile on my face and have fun,” said Schubert.
World no.2 Jeeno Thitikul is just two strokes adrift as a third round 67 sees her at 14-under. Thitikul has great experience in Sunday hunting as the 23-year-old already has nine LPGA TOUR wins. Thitikul is up to the challenge.
“It’s testing me every week in, week out, how much can I do well under the pressure and among all the players in the field every week. So I love it. I love to test and then I hope I can do good in the test, too,” she said.
Korea’s Narin An holds fourth at 13-under, followed by a six-way tie of golfers in T5 at 12-under. The tightly packed leaderboard makes for a dramatic Sunday
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