Springfield, N.J. - It was muggy, but unlike Thursday's weather, the sun did shine at historic Baltusrol Golf Club for the third day of competition at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship as Leona Maguire went into the clubhouse maintaining her one stroke lead.
Maguire, who has been consistent throughout the tournament with scores of 69 on Thursday, and a 68, in Friday's less than optimal conditions, displayed that consistency again on Saturday recording another 2-under-par 69 to finish the day at 7-under for the tournament. While there was some scrambling to save par, Maguire's scorecard included four birdies compared to just two bogies on an unforgiving Lower Course at Baltusrol.
"Yeah, a steady day today," Maguire said of her round Saturday. "It was more of a mixed bag than the last few days. Had to scramble a little bit more today. I had a few key up-and-downs out of bunkers today to keep me going and keep me in it. Always nice to finish with a birdie on 18."
Coming off a win at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply give last week, Maguire is looking to continue her momentum in Springfield.
Yeah, I wasn't thinking about it too much. It seems like other people were thinking about it a lot more than I was," Maguire said about looking for back-to-back wins. "I felt like I've been playing really good golf, and it's always great validation when you do win when you think you're playing great golf. It's one thing to thinking you're playing great golf, but really I think the nice thing was to be able to execute down the stretch on Sunday when I needed to."
This is the first time that Maguire has held the 54-hole lead at any major championship, and she will have to continue to execute on a challenging Lower Course at Baltusrol if she hopes to score her first major tournament win.
"One more day of patience," Maguire said, looking ahead to Sunday. "I know it's a cliché, but I think this golf course really demands it. And, just one more day of being, yeah, super patient and really disciplined out there."
Jenny Shin and Stephanie Meadow rounded out the top-3 after the third day of competition at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship. Shin finished her round Saturday with a 5-under 66 and currently sits in second place, one back of Maguire at -6 for the tournament, while Meadow checks in at third at 5-under-par for the tournament after recording a 67 on Saturday.
Heading into Sunday being in a position to win a major, Meadow said, "Obviously we all think about it. That's our dream. I think it would be silly to say that I don't think about it. But I think about it, but I know what I have to do to get the job done. So I'll just stay in the process and get a good night's rest if I can and come out and give it my all tomorrow."
The KPMG Women's PGA Championship concludes Sunday with the first golfers expected to tee off at 8:15 a.m.
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