Stephanie Meadow fired a moving day 67 and her second in succession to bolt up the leaderboard at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup in Arizona.
With the LPGA Tour stopping off less than an hour from her home in Phoenix this week, it looks like home comforts are paying dividends for the Jordanstown professional who has well and truly found her feet at Wildfire Country Club.
On a track she knows quite well, Meadow found six birdies in all and has propelled herself inside the top-25 on the leaderboard at 10-under par.
An even par opening round may well put paid to her chances of winning but another 67 on Sunday would be an incredible effort as Meadow looks to lay down a marker on her LPGA Tour return to consolidate her position back amongst the best in the business.
At 19-under China’s Yu Liu holds a one shot lead over Spain’s Carlota Ciganda at the top of the leaderboard after she returned a card containing seven birdies two bogeys and an eagle in her 7-under round of 65, while Ciganda herself stormed through the field with a stunning bogey-free 63 which included an eagle and seven birdies.
After her round Liu said; “I didn’t start off very well, especially having a pretty big time pairing with Sung Hyun, the world number one, so I was just trying to get myself mentally prepared for the round and just play my own game. Today I was just controlling my emotions and staying in my own game.”
“Today was definitely a turnaround for me,” she added.
Stephanie Meadow’s round three statistics:
Fairways hit – 10/14
Driving Distance – 260 yards
Putts per round – 25
Greens in reg – 12/18
Sand saves – 1/1
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