McKibbin, Maguire and Meadow move up at Galgorm
Tom McKibbin. Picture: Niall O'Shea
Tom McKibbin carded a two-under 68 to keep his hopes of a top-10 finish alive in the ISPS HANDA World Invitational at Galgorm.
The touring professional for the host club, McKibbin was tied for 133rd after opening with an eight-over 78 at the Ballymena parkland.
But after firing a six-under 65 at Castlerock to make the cut, he made three birdies and a bogey in the third round to make the 54-hole cut for the top 35 and ties.
The Porsche European Open winner is tied for 20th on level par, just two strokes outside the top 10 but 14 shots behind England's Daniel Brown, who remained on course for a wire-to-wire win.
The 28-year-old carded a three-under 67 to retain his six-stroke lead and head the field on 14-under-par from South African Wilco Neinaber (63) and England's Alex Fitzpatrick (67).
"Obviously, there's still a good way to go yet," Brown said. "But yeah, it's nice to play well and keep that lead and make it a little bit more comfortable than I suppose what it might be. But yeah, still one day to go."
England's Gabriella Cowley carded a five-under 67 at Galgorm in the concurrent women's event to lead by one stroke on six-under-par from American Ryann O'Toole (68) and Germany's Esther Henseleit (69).
Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow made the 54-hole cut with two strokes to spare on two-over.
"Yeah, felt like I played really well," Maguire said. "It was really tough there, especially on the front nine. It was rainy, it was gusty, it was pretty miserable out there. I made the most of what I had.
Maguire followed two opening birdies with a bogey at the fourth to card a one-under 71 that left her tied for 21st with Meadow, who was in trouble after covering the back nine, her opening nine, in four-over 40.
The Jordanstown star, who is also a touring professional for Galgorm, double-bogeyed the 10th and bogeyed the 12th and 17th.
But she raced home in four-under 32 thanks to birdies at the first, third, fifth and eighth for a level par 72.
On the PGA TOUR, Séamus Power moved off the foot of the leaderboard in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields despite carding a four-over 74.
The West Waterford man failed to make a birdie, dropping shots at the fifth, seventh, eighth and 18th to sit alone in 48th and second-last place on 12-over after Taylor Moore shot 80 to slip to 49th on 16-over.
On the Challenge Tour, Finland's Lauri added a seven-under 64 to rounds of 59 and 70 to head into the final round of the Vierumäki Finnish Challenge with a two-stroke lead over Scotland's Jack McDonald (67) on 20-under.
Conor Purcell (68) and Paul McBride (70) are tied for 24th on eight under with Jonathan Yates (71) 45th on four under and Conor O'Rourke (71) a shot further back in 53rd.
