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South Africa’s Cas Alexander remains in front, three-shot clear on 18-under
Cas Alexander’s lead was reduced from five to three shots after a rain-interrupted third round of the KPMG Women’son Saturday, but the South African retained control of her own destiny in her bid for a first win on the Ladies European Tour this season.
’s putter finally got hot on a day of heavy downpours, with a brilliant round of 63 for 11-under-par to climb to tied-sixth, Alexander’s 69 moved her to 18-under, three shots clear of Sara Kouskova of the Czech Republic. Maguire completed her round shortly before the siren sounded to suspend play on the Palmer South Course, which caused a 45 minutes pause in play as greens flooded – with squeegees unable to clear the water – and bunkers gathered water.
At that point, the final threeball including Alexander had just made the turn. A bogey-free haul of nine birdies – with placing on fairways in effect for the third round – saw Maguire rocket up the leader board from 26th, seven shots behind Alexander. Casandra Alexander extends her lead at Women’s Irish Open“It’s probably going to need another one of the same,” said Maguire of what might be required in the final round to contest the win.
“The goal this morning was to get to double digits , and at least we’re in double digits now. Casandra’s obviously got quite a big head start, but we’ll just try and make her sweat a little bit if we can. ”In her final tournament before a fourth appearance in the Solheim Cup in two weeks’ time, Saturday’s round will be a confidence boost for the Cavan after back-to-back missed cuts on the LPGA Tour.
“I hit some really nice approach shots, and I suppose the last two years the approach shots have been the thing that maybe let me down a bit and have been a little bit inconsistent here and there. They’ve been really solid this week in general.
“The last few weeks, I don’t think the scores reflected how I was playing. Obviously missing cuts is never fun, but it didn’t feel like I was playing that bad. The standard is actually very high , as it is here on LET, and it’s nice to put a really low one together. I haven’t done that in a while.
I knew it was there, but you still have to go and do it,” Maguire added. A number of other Irish players made upward moves, with Dubliner Anna Foster shooting a 66 to move into tied-15th, while Lauren Walsh’s 67 and Áine Donegan’s 69 moved them into a share of 24th.
Canice Screene, however, had a nightmare quintuple bogey 10 on the 18th, signing for a 76 which saw her plummet to tied-48th having started the round in a share of eighth. Alexander – who has five runners-up finishes on the LET this season – will bid to consolidate her place atop the order of merit in looking to close the deal on Sunday at the K Club to add the Irish Open title to her Czech Open success last year.
, N Komulainen 205; T8: D Forbrigd, A Fanali, A Fosterling, L Pettersson, B Navarrosa 206; 13: B Fernandez 207; 14: A Dawson 208; T15: A Garvey, PI Schmidt, A Foster, G Iziemgbe Oboh, E Spitz, M Folke, P Urs 209T6: L Maguire 205; T15: A Foster 209; T24: L Walsh 211; T24: Á Donegan 211; T48: C Screene 215; T52 A Wilson 216Rory McIlroy back in the hunt as Viktor Hovland leads way at Tour ChampionshipCasandra Alexander extends her lead at Women’s Irish OpenDomhnall Gleeson: ‘My life in Ireland means too much to me. It’s no sacrifice to live here’Is that a solar farm, or a train track?
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