Leona Maguire one round away from LPGA Tour card

Leona Maguire looks to be steadily moving towards securing her LPGA Tour card for next season after a third round 72 at the Symetra Tour Championship.

The top-10 on the secondary tour’s order of merit after Sunday’s final round will be rewarded with a card for the main tour next year and Maguire was ranked fifth heading in to this week.

After one birdie and one bogey on Saturday left her tied for 38th at five under par and seven shots off the lead held by Sierra Sims and Laura Wearn, Maguire should maintain her place in that top-10 barring a disaster in Sunday’s final round.

Meanwhile, on the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow’s hopes of retaining her LPGA Tour card took a bit of a blow on Saturday as she slipped to a third round 73 at the Volunteers of America Classic in Texas.

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Stephanie Meadow leads in Texas in race to keep LPGA Tour card

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Big weekend ahead for Ireland’s two leading women’s tour professionals

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The Northern Irishwoman is currently 112th on the LPGA Tour order of merit and needs to move inside the top 100 after Sunday’s final round if she is to avoid a return to Q-School.

The 27-year-old reckons she needs “at least” a top-10 finish to do that and she currently sits tied-10th after failing to find a birdie in her third round. Bogeys at the fourth and ninth and 16 pars left her at six under par and eight shots off the lead held by Jaye Marie Green.

Collated third round scores in the Volunteers of America Classic, Old American G.C, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 71):

199 Jaye Marie Green 67 68 64

200 Cheyenne Knight 66 67 67

201 Katherine Perry 67 68 66, Brittany Altomare 67 66 68

204 Sei Young Kim (Kor) 68 69 67

205 Jane Park 69 67 69, Caroline Hedwall (Swe) 69 67 69, Alena Sharp (Can) 68 65 72, Jeongeun Lee (Kor) 67 70 68

207 Gerina Piller 69 71 67, Stephanie Meadow (NIrl) 63 71 73, Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) 68 70 69, Georgia Hall (Eng) 68 68 71, Inbee Park (Kor) 67 70 70, Hyo Joo Kim (Kor) 70 68 69

208 Amy Olson 65 73 70, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 74 66 68, Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 68 68 72, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 67 74 67, In Gee Chun (Kor) 68 69 71

209 Wei-Ling Hsu (Tai) 68 68 73, Dori Carter 65 72 72, Kristen Gillman 67 71 71

210 Lindy Duncan 68 75 67, Lauren Kim 69 72 69, Sarah Schmelzel 71 71 68, Daniela Darquea (Ecu) 70 67 73, Brooke M. Henderson (Can) 71 67 72

211 Jennifer Song 68 70 73, Jenny Shin 71 73 67, Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 72 67 72, Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 66 77 68, Brittany Lang 70 73 68, Lizette Salas 68 73 70, Mina Harigae 71 68 72, Sung Hyun Park (Kor) 69 71 71

212 Dana Finkelstein 69 70 73, Madelene Sagstrom (Swe) 72 69 71, Jeong Eun Lee (Kor) 72 72 68, Ruixin Liu (Chn) 66 73 73, Dottie Ardina (Phl) 68 73 71, Jodi Ewart Shadoff (Eng) 68 69 75, Sakura Yokomine (Jpn) 69 69 74, Youngin Chun 69 71 72, Pei-yun Chien (Chn) 68 73 71, Pavarisa Yoktuan (Tha) 70 68 74

213 Tiffany Joh 69 73 71, In-Kyung Kim (Kor) 70 71 72, Ally McDonald 71 73 69, Ayako Uehara (Jpn) 72 70 71, Pannarat Thanapolboonyaras (Tha) 70 72 71, Cydney Clanton 69 75 69, Isi Gabsa (Ger) 69 74 70, Yu Liu (Chn) 72 70 71, Klara Spilkova (Cze) 73 69 71, Aditi Ashok (Ind) 69 71 73, Mi Jung Hur (Kor) 68 75 70

214 P.K Kongkraphan (Tha) 68 75 71, Chella Choi (Kor) 69 74 71, Charlotte Thomas (Eng) 72 70 72, Maria Fassi (Mex) 70 67 77, Hee Young Park (Kor) 72 72 70

215 Mirim Lee (Kor) 71 73 71, Jasmine Suwannapura (Tha) 68 74 73, Na Yeon Choi (Kor) 71 73 71, Morgan Pressel 70 73 72, Celine Boutier (Fra) 74 70 71, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 72 69 74

216 Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 75 69 72, Sarah Burnham 73 70 73, Angela Stanford 68 75 73, Jenny Haglund (Swe) 71 71 74

217 Gabby Lemieux 71 73 73, Hannah Green (Aus) 68 76 73

218 Austin Ernst 72 72 74

219 Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 74 70 75