Maguire on fire as Coetzee in mix again

THREE Irish golfers made it to the weekend in the ANA Inspiration major but, despite performing creditably at Rancho Mirage in California, none is in realistic contention heading into today’s final round.

However, Cavan’s Leona Maguire (below) can be proud of her efforts yesterday, firing a superb four-under-par 68, with five birdies and a single bogey, to finish on three under overall.

Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow had a tougher time of it, shooting a one over-par 73, to end her third round one shot behind Maguire on two under overall.

Amateur Olivia Mehaffey did superbly to make the cut but is well down the leaderboard. The pace is being set by Canada’s Brooke Henderson on 12 under.

Meanwhile, George Coetzee put himself in contention to win for the second week in a row after his eagle-birdie finish handed him a oneshot lead ahead of the final round of the Portugal Masters.

The South African began the day eight shots behind halfway leader Julien Guerrier after the Frenchman followed up his opening 62 with a 66 on Friday to head into the weekend on 14 under par.

But as Guerrier slipped back after failing to make a birdie on Saturday, Coetzee produced a 66 that contained an eagle, four birdies and a single bogey to move to 11 under and take over at the top of the leaderboard. Guerrier and Masahiro Kawamura were Coetzee’s closest challengers on 10 under, with Niklas Lemke and Laurie Canter another shot back. Coetzee reached the turn in 34 shots after sandwiching a bogey on the seventh between birdies at the fourth and eighth. After taking advantage of the parfour 15th for the third day in a row, Coetzee came agonisingly close to holing his approach into the long 17th for an albatross but had to settle for a tap-in eagle to climb to 10 under. And he finished off with a confident 12-foot birdie putt at the last.