Leona Maguire birdied three of her last five holes to share 19th place heading into the final round of the Buick LPGA Shanghai event in China.
The Co Cavan player was one-over for the day with five holes to play before she birdied the 14th, 17th and 18th at Qizhong Garden Golf Club in a 31-putt round.
Japan’s Mao Saigo shot a seven-under-par 65 to lead by a shot from China’s Ruoning Yin on 17-under.
Maguire, who has been working hard to improve her putting this year after falling down the rankings from first for putts per round in 2020 to 63rd this year, lies 49th in the Race to CME Globe standings.
She had been expected to play in the Aramco Team Series – Riyadh event in Saudi Arabia at the end of this month but has opted instead to concentrate on improving her LPGA ranking.
The LPGA writes:
Rookie Saigo came into the round tied for second but was just one stroke back of the leader.
She started to find her groove early, recording back-to-back birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 before a string of pars took her into the turn 13-under and tied for the lead.
While Saigo was playing slow and steady, hometown favorite Ruoning Yin put on a show for the Chinese crowd that came to see her going bogey-free on the front nine with four birdies to take her from 9-under to start her day to right in the mix at 12-under.
Two groups ahead of Saigo, Yin found the momentum she needed to take her over the top carding three-straight birdies on Nos. 12, 13 and 14 to join the leaders at the top.
Not to be outdone by Yin, Saigo added another pair of birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 and the two found themselves tied at 15-under coming down the stretch.
Yin would strike first recording her first eagle of the week on No. 17 to take the outright lead.
Yin had an opportunity to grow her lead even more and tie the 18-hole scoring record set earlier this week by Sei Young Kim, but missed her birdie putt on No. 18 and settled for a par and a 9-under round.
After Yin finished, Saigo found herself just one back of the three-time Tour winner.
On the same hole that Yin took her lead, Saigo matched her energy and recorded an eagle of her own to leapfrog Yin and take the outright solo-lead for the first time in her career heading into Sunday.
“I think tomorrow I’m playing as a chaser, and I think just I have a little goal for myself every day, and I think if I’m able to complete my goal I’m happy about whatever the result is,” Yin said about playing against Saigo in Sunday’s championship round.
The 18-hole and 36-hole leader Kim has simmered down since her scorching hot day one.
After recording nine birdies in her first round, she has just seven through her last 36-holes.
Kim finds herself in solo-third still within striking distance of Saigo and Yin and will look to turn up the heat on those two during Sunday’s round. 2021 U.S. Solheim Cup team member Yealimi Noh is in the hunt for her fourth top-10 finish of the 2024 season after ending her third round in solo-fourth.
Noh went bogey-free, her second bogey-free round of the week, with four birdies.
Six players round out the top-10 all tied for fifth including CLPGA Tour players Yanhong Pan and Haruka Morita, six-time LPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoka, three-time Tour winner Jeeno Thitikul, next week’s defending champion Minjee Lee and 2023 Tour rookie Lucy Li.
Defending champion Angel Yin will have a bit more work to do to try and repeat as winner finding herself T19 at 6-under after a 1-over third round.