Round-up: KLM Open, Leona Maguire, Seamus Power
European Tour — Englishman Lee Slattery has a golden opportunity to land back-to-back European Tour titles after a superb seven under par 63 in the third round of the KLM Open propelled him into a share of the lead.
The 37 year old triumphed in last week’s M2M Russian Open and brought that fine form to the links of Kennemer Golf and Country Club in the Netherlands, where he sits on 16 under par alongside Rafa Cabrera-Bello with one round remaining.
The Spaniard also signed for a 63, making seven gains on the front nine before nine pars on the way home, as did Paul Lawrie, who is one shot off the lead after bouncing back from a tricky second day with a flawless round.
Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Finn Mikko Ilonen both went one better, a pair of 62s launching them into contention at 14 under and 13 under respectively, while overnight leader Søren Kjeldsen of Denmark battled to a 71 to slip down to tied ninth, five strokes back.
Simon Thornton’s four under 66 left him as the best of the Irish, tied for 22nd, seven off the pace on nine under with Padraig Harrington take 32 putts in a 67 to share 35th on seven under.
Peter Lawrie shot a one over 71 — one bogey, 17 pars and 33 putts — to fall to tied 64th on two under.
Round 3 scores:
194 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 65 66 63, L Slattery (Eng) 66 65 63,
195 P Lawrie (Sco) 61 71 63,
196 T Pieters (Bel) 68 66 62,
197 W Ormsby (Aus) 61 68 68, M Ilonen (Fin) 64 71 62, M Madsen (Den) 64 67 66,
198 M Kieffer (Ger) 67 67 64
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201 S Thornton (Irl) 67 68 66; 203 P Harrington (Irl) 71 65 67; 208 P Lawrie (Irl) 68 69 71
Leona rubbing shoulders with stars
Evian Championship — Slieve Russell Amateur Leona Maguire shot a second successive 73 to share 51st place with a round to go in the Evian Championship in France.
The world No 1 made four birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey six in a two over effort to slip six spots to five over at the Evian Resort.
The Duke Univeristy talent is 15 shots behind Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee, who sank a 10-foot par putt on the 18th hole to hang on to the third-round lead on 10-under par 203, one shot clear of Lexi Thompson.
Morgan Pressel, who was playing alongside Lee in the final group, was tied with Lee at 10-under heading to the 18th tee but double bogeyed the last to fall into a tie for third with Lydia Ko at 8-under par.
Ko has a chance on Sunday to win her first major championship title.
Heavy rain moved in late in the round and is forecasted to stay throughout the night and early morning.
Players will go off both the 1st and 10th tee on Sunday with the first tee time at 8:23am and last at 10:35am. The prize giving is scheduled for 4pm local time.
Power moving up
Web.com Tour — West Waterford's Seamus Power is slowing moving up the leaderboard in the first event of the Playoffs, the Hotel Fitness Championships in Indiana.
With an additional 25 PGA Tour cards available after the regular season awarded 25 cards to the leading money winners, Power is projected to be 31st in the rankings after a two under 70 moved him up to tied 39th on four under at Sycamore Hills Golf Club in Fort Wayne.
Korea's DH Lee, who has already earned his card and is now playing for his ranking number, shot a 66 to lead by three shots on 15 under from India's recently selected Presidents Cup player Anirbhan Lahiri (70).
For a detailed explanation of the Web.com Tour Playoffs and Power's chances of winning this card, click here.
