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Leona eyes top-10 in Portland; Irish cut in Portugal

Leona Maguire/ © USGA/Chris Keane)

Leona Maguire carded her second bogey-free round in her last three starts to move up to tied 21st in the Cambia Portland Classic.

After closing with a bogey-free 69 to share 18th in the ANA Inspiration, the Slieve Russell National professional hit all 14 fairways and birdied the second, ninth and 17th to post a 69 and sit eight strokes behind leader Mel Reid on four-under-par as Stephanie Meadow again struggled to hit fairways and added a 76 to her opening 75 to miss the level par cut by seven shots.

Scores

Mel Reid. The English player celebrated her special day in style, tying her career-low round of 7-under 65 on Saturday and jumping to the top of the leaderboard at the Cambia Portland Classic. Reid carded seven birdies to no bogeys in her second round to move to -12 overall. She will carry a two-stroke lead over defending champion Hannah Green into Sunday’s final round at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.

“I hit it really good last week, so kind of took that momentum going into this week,” says Reid, who tied for seven at last week’s ANA Inspiration. With this week’s tournament shortened to 54 holes. Reid also took advantage of extra rest.

“I think it did me a favour having an extra day off. I was pretty tired from last week,” said Reid, whose best career finish is third at the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. “It obviously feels good. Put myself in a great position, a position that everyone wants to be in, so I'm excited for the opportunity tomorrow.”

With six birdies and two bogeys in Saturday’s 68, Green is in prime position for a repeat victory in Portland. 

“I got off to such a great start, so always hard to back up a low round,” said Green, who shot a 66 in Friday’s opening round. “Really happy with my last putt. Holed a long bomb there, so gives me another positive momentum for tomorrow. “Hopefully I can get the pace of the greens a little bit better and give myself opportunities to make birdie.

Amy Olson and Amy Yang are tied for third at -9, while a quartet of players are tied for fifth at -8, including 2019 Cambia Portland Classic runner-up Yealimi Noh and 2018 AIG Women’s Open champion Georgia Hall.

The cut came at Even with 80 players advancing to Sunday’s final round. Notables to miss the cut include 2017 Cambia Portland Classic winner Stacy Lewis (+1), 2008 champion Cristie Kerr (+2) and Rolex Rankings No. 4 Sung Hyun Park (+4).

Vitor Lopes. Picture: Getty Images

Irish cut in Portugal

On the European Tour, Paul Dunne and Niall Kearney missed the cut by one stroke in the Open de Portugal at Royal Óbidos.

Dunne shot a one-under 71 and Kearney a 72 to leave them on three-over 1147 with Gavin Moynihan six shots further back after a 79.

Nathan Kimsey and Andrew Wilson joined home favourite Vitor Lopes at the top of the leaderboard, with the third round of the weather-affected tournament set to resume on Sunday morning.

Lopes reached the summit after round one with his lowest ever European Tour round of 65, and he followed that up with a round of 71, birdieing the last to sit at eight-under-par when he completed his second round on Saturday afternoon following lengthy delays due to thunderstorms and high winds on Friday.

That was enough for the 24-year-old to match the eight-under-par clubhouse target set by Englishman Wilson, who followed up a first-round 69 with a five-under 67 on day two around the Seve Ballesteros-designed course at Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort.

Wilson’s compatriot Kimsey finished with back-to-back birdies to equal his 67 and make it a three-way tie at the summit, while Welshman Jamie Donaldson eagled the last to sit one off the lead at seven-under-par.

Portugal’s Pep Angles recorded the lowest second-round score - a six-under-par 66 - to finish at six-under-par, alongside Garrick Higgo of South Africa, Spain's Carlos Pigem and Finn Roope Kakko.

Sweden’s Christofer Blomstrand then joined them with a bogey and four birdies in his opening six holes when the third round got underway. With bogeys for Pigem on the second and third, and American Chase Hanna and England’s Ashton Turner both going one-under through their first three holes, it was a six-way tie for fifth place when play was suspended due to fading light.

Open de Portgual, Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort

Detailed scores

136 V Lopes (Por) 65 71, N Kimsey (Eng) 69 67, A Wilson (Eng) 69 67,

137 J Donaldson (Wal) 70 67,

138 C Pigem (Esp) 67 71, G Higgo (Rsa) 68 70, R Kakko (Fin) 69 69, P Angles (Esp) 72 66,

139 A Knappe (Ger) 68 71, G Coetzee (Rsa) 69 70, A Turner (Eng) 70 69, C Hanna (USA) 70 69,

140 D Perrier (Fra) 67 73, D Foos (Ger) 69 71, M Antcliff (Aus) 70 70, J Dantorp (Swe) 70 70, H Ellis (Eng) 70 70, J Wrisdale (Eng) 72 68, J Thomson (Eng) 73 67,

141 G Kristjansson (Isl) 69 72, D Boote (Wal) 69 72, A Plant (Eng) 70 71, A Zemmer (Ita) 70 71, M Siem (Ger) 70 71, C Blomstrand (Swe) 72 69, P Eriksson (Swe) 72 69,

142 R Santos (Por) 68 74, J Brun (Fra) 70 72, C Mivis (Bel) 70 72, C Sahlstrom (Swe) 70 72, S Ferreira (Por) 71 71, R McGowan (Eng) 73 69, O Lindell (Fin) 74 68,

143 N Von Dellingshausen (Ger) 69 74, N Moller (Den) 72 71, S Tarrio (Esp) 72 71, G Fernandez Castaño (Esp) 72 71, A Cockerill (Can) 72 71, T Clements (Eng) 73 70, B Hellgren (Swe) 74 69, M Ford (Eng) 74 69, F Maccario (Ita) 74 69,

144 R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 69 75, G King (Eng) 69 75, B Ritthammer (Ger) 70 74, D Young (Sco) 70 74, P Figueiredo (Por) 71 73, B Neil (Sco) 71 73, K Johannessen (Nor) 73 71, R Enoch (Wal) 73 71, M Fenasse (Fra) 73 71, E Walker (Sco) 73 71, S Manley (Wal) 73 71, H Arkenau (Ger) 74 70, R Petersson (Swe) 74 70, P Oriol (Esp) 74 70, M Simonsen (Den) 75 69,

145 J Suri (Usa) 68 77, R Gouveia (Por) 69 76, F Lacroix (Fra) 71 74, R Mansell (Eng) 73 72, B Moore (Eng) 73 72, S Fernandez (Esp) 76 69,

146 H Sturehed (Swe) 70 76, J Sandborg (Swe) 70 76, J Fahrbring (Swe) 72 74, T Bessa (Por) 72 74, R De Sousa (Sui) 72 74, P Edberg (Swe) 73 73, N Hojgaard (Den) 73 73, E Di Nitto (Ita) 73 73, M Penge (Eng) 74 72, H Long (Ger) 74 72, B Poke (Den) 75 71, M Ovesen (Den) 75 71, N Kristensen (Den) 75 71, G Bourdy (Fra) 76 70,

Missed cut

147 A Daydou (Fra) 71 76, R Wattel (Fra) 72 75, G Bloor (Eng) 73 74, R Evans (Eng) 74 73, S Gregory (Eng) 75 72, A Karlsson (Swe) 75 72, Niall Kearney (Irl) 75 72, A Romero (Arg) 76 71, J Lima (Por) 76 71, Paul Dunne (Irl) 76 71, T Cruz (Por) 77 70, S Vincent (Zim) 80 67,

148 J Kruger (Rsa) 70 78, E Cuartero Blanco (Esp) 72 76, B Rusch (Sui) 73 75, G Stal (Fra) 73 75, T Koivisto (USA) 73 75, M Schneider (Ger) 75 73, M Baldwin (Eng) 76 72, O Lengden (Swe) 77 71,

149 F Oliveira (Por) 72 77, D Huizing (Ned) 72 77, E Bertheussen (Nor) 74 75, M Gaspar (Por) 74 75, T Gouveia (Por) 76 73, J Kolbing (Ger) 77 72,

150 P Lencart (Am) (Por) 73 77, H Magnus (Isl) 74 76, E Kofstad (Nor) 74 76, R Van West (Ned) 75 75, C Howie (Sco) 76 74,

151 M Wiegele (Aut) 74 77, L Johnston (Sco) 75 76, A Wu (Chn) 75 76, M Lundberg (Swe) 77 74, W Ormsby (Aus) 78 73,

152 A John (Ger) 73 79, D Gavins (Eng) 76 76,

153 Gavin Moynihan (Irl) 74 79, L Scalise (Ita) 77 76,

154 F Mory (Fra) 72 82, 156 S Tiley (Eng) 76 80, J Abbott (Eng) 78 78,

157 P Langfors (Swe) 75 82, J Kaske (Fin) 78 79, E Lipparelli (Ita) 78 79,

161 J Magalhaes (Por) 75 86,

169 A Abreu (Por) 86 83,

DQ U Coussaud (Fra) 78 Dq,