LEONA MAGUIRE AND Lucas Glover have a share of second place at the Grant Thornton Invitational heading into the final round in Naples, Florida.
The duo are on 18-under par after Saturday’s foursomes, two shots off leaders Jason Day and Lydia Ko who leapfrogged Nelly Korda and Tony Finau to top spot.
The co-sanctioned event sees 32 players from the LPGA and PGA Tours compete together for a top prize of $1 million.
Maguire and Glover made a sensational start on Friday, producing 10 consecutive birdies, and while they were unable to repeat that same magic yesterday their total of 69 has them right in contention.
Glover – the 2009 men’s US Open champion – and Maguire did begin with a birdie but bogeys on the fifth and seventh holes halted their momentum.
They recovered on the back nine, producing a birdie on the 10th before three more on 13, 14 and 15.
It meant they still have Day and Ko in their sights after they delivered a fine 66 to edge clear at the summit on 20-under par.
The are four groups bunched together on 16-under for a share of fourth spot.
Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson are among them thanks in no small part to the latter hitting a hole in one on the par-3 16th.
“Definitely up there, probably one of my highest because I’ve only had about four in competition with crowds, with a good amount of crowds, so there was a lot of people around that tee box,’ Thompson said.
“It was nice to high-five everybody and hear all the cheers. I can’t wait to watch the video of it later probably. Definitely a good feeling. I mean, hitting a golf shot or making a putt and just committing to it and seeing the shot at hand and really just pulling it off, it’s always a great feeling.”
Today’s final round will be a modified four-ball. Teammates will both tee off before they then switch their balls and play that until it is holed.