-15 L Maguire (Ireland), Ko (NZ); -ten G Dryburgh (Sco), J Lee6 (Kor); -9 B Henderson (Can), A Nordqvist (Sweden) |
Others selected:-seven G Hall (Eng); -6 J Ewart Shadoff (English), N Korda (USA) |
Full ranking (external site) |
Ireland’s Leona Maguire shot a stunning nine under par 63 to take a share of the lead in the final round of the LPGA Tour championship in Florida.
Maguire, 27, birdied nine in her bogey-free round to catch Lydia Ko, who started the day with a five-shot lead.
The top pair will square off on Sunday with a record $2 million top prize on the line.
“It was good to have a really low lap under my belt, I’ll try to come out and do the same tomorrow,” Maguire said.
Maguire and Ko hold a five-stroke advantage over Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh and South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee6, who are tied for third with less than 10.
As New Zealand’s Ko looked shaky in her round of 70, Maguire produced a scintillating charge to climb the leaderboard, shooting four under on her front nine.
Maguire had a streak of four straight birdies either side of the turn and as she found a bunker on the 17th, a back-and-forth from the sand produced her ninth birdie.
The weather forecast for Sunday suggests the winds could turn fierce with rain also forecast, but Maguire appears to be relishing the prospect of familiar conditions.
“We’ll have to wait and see how bad it gets,” she said.
“Maybe a bit of rain, a bit of wind. Nothing I’m not used to from Ireland.”
Canada’s Brooke Henderson also moved up in the standings after a round under seven in 65 that included two eagles.