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Maguire loses ground at Galgorm as Doherty leads

Leona Maguire in third-round action in Antrim
Leona Maguire in third-round action in Antrim

A third-round 76 saw Leona Maguire fall out of contention following the third round of the ISPS Handa World Invitational at Galgorm Castle.

The Cavan golfer started with birdies at the first and third holes to move within a shot of halfway leader Amanda Doherty, but by the end of play she had dropped back to five-under-par, seven shots off Doherty who will take a one-stroke lead into the final round.

After that positive start, Maguire dropped four shots in three holes and despite another birdie at the 10th, two more bogeys would arrive at the 11th and 14th holes.

Doherty carded a third-round 72 to maintain that narrow lead.

The LPGA Tour rookie got off to a slower start with a bogey on the third followed by a birdie on the fourth, before a double bogey on the fifth.

However, the 24-year-old soon got into her groove rolling in three birdies around the turn on holes eight, 10 and 12.

Although Doherty dropped another shot on 14, a birdie on the last meant the American reached 12-under-par to keep her one-shot lead with one round remaining.

FULL LEADERBOARD

"I feel like overall it was a good day. I got off to a little bit of a rough start and I hit a few crazy shots today, so I managed to kind of come back from those and try and stay patient to have a decent round," said Doherty.

"Going into the second round and going into today I was in pretty much the same spot, so I feel like I've had a little bit of experience with that this week. Obviously, the final round is a little bit different, but I'm excited.

Amanda Doherty

"I was glad to get a birdie on 18. I had a few close calls, and nothing was going in, so it was nice to get that one.

"I was in contention quite a few times last year on the Epson Tour. I didn't pull any of them off, but I feel like I had good final rounds. That's all you can ask for. You can't control what anybody else does. As long as I can have a solid final round, I'll be happy with that."

England's Georgia Hall and Chinese Taipei’s Peiyun Chien sit one shot behind the leader on 11-under-par after 54 holes.

It was a solid round for Major-winner Hall, who shot 70 with three bogeys, four birdies and a tap-in eagle on her scorecard.

Chien got off to a hot start with three birdies in her first four holes and she rolled in another on nine to make the turn in four-under.

Even though the back nine was trickier, with the 31-year-old making a bogey on 12 and a double bogey on 14, she recovered with birdies on 15 and 18 to reach 11-under-par.

Three players are in a share of fourth place on 10-under-par including 2022 Race to Costa del Sol leader Maja Stark, who fired a round of 69.

After a birdie on the first, the four-time LET winner made a double bogey in the fifth but soon made up for it with birdies on seven and eight followed by an eagle on nine and a further birdie on 11.

Stark is joined by American Allisen Corpuz as well as Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen, who won the 2020 Race to Costa del Sol, and shot a round of level par on day three.

In the men’s tournament, Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson leads with a score of 11-under-par and is three shots clear of American John Catlin with 38 players making it to the final day.

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