Harrington five clear in Phoenix as Meadow and Maguire chase in Florida
Padraig Harrington plays a shot out of a bunker on the seventh hole during the final round at the 2022 U.S. Senior Open at Saucon Valley C.C. (Old Course) in Bethlehem, Pa. on Sunday, June 26, 2022. (Chris Keane/USGA)
Pádraig Harrington carded the low round of his PGA TOUR Champions career to surge five shots clear in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship as Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow moved into contention for the Pelican Women's Championship.
Playing some of his best golf this year, Harrington eagled the first and added seven birdies, including four in a row on the back nine, to card a nine-under 62 at Phoenix Country Club.
The Dubliner must win the season-ending event and hope points leader Steven Alker finishes outside the top five if he's to snatch the $1 million Charles Schwab Cup bonus from the New Zealander.
But while he leads by five strokes on 21-under par, Alker is his nearest rival in solo second place after a three-under 68 and still projected to win the points title.
The duo have been trading birdies for the last three weeks in a fierce battle for the Charles Schwab Cup, but there can only be one overall champion and Harrington admits he can only focus on winning the tournament.
"I've already clarified that in my mind," Harrington said. "I am focused on winning the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. That's what I am trying to win."
He conceded that Alker deserves the overall Charles Schwab Cup title, adding, "Which is only right. He's had an unbelievable year and, look, he hasn't made a bogey this week. He deserves to win."
Harrington said at the start of the week that a 72-hole event would be to his advantage, but now he's the man being chased and it's a position he has had to become used to since turning 50.
"I've always been a better chaser than leader," Harrington said. "We'll go and see tomorrow what happens. I've certainly given myself a few options. Five ahead, hopefully I'll go out there and play well and can wave at the crowds, which if it doesn't happen that way, well, we'll have to dig deep and find another way of winning."
Meadow and Maguire are chasing in the Pelican Women's Championship in Florida, tied for 13th on five-under, just five shots behind American Allisen Corpuz, who heads Maja Stark, Lexi Thompson and Maria Fassi by a shot on 10-under.
Meadow needs a top-four finish to make the top 63 in the points list who will qualify for next week's season-ending $7 million CME Globe Tour Championship and she now has a chance to move up from 81st after a two-under 68 yesterday.
Maguire, 17th in the season-long standings, is also in with a chance of notching her second win of the season after finding her putting touch to make eight birdies in a stunning 64.
"I just figured out how to putt again I think," said Maguire, who had just 27 putts compared to 32 on Friday. "I hit the ball great yesterday. Gave myself so many chances. I just didn't hole any putts.
"I spent a few minutes on the putting green last night and holed one on the first and just kind of kept going from there."
She admitted that a double-bogey at the 12th was "annoying" as it killed her momentum and all thoughts of shooting a magical 59 at the course where she set a course record 62 last year.
"Yeah, didn't hit a bad shot,” the Co Cavan star said. "Annoying to double 12 and kind of killed my momentum a little bit. Felt like there was a chance at 59 if I had kept going.
Thomas Detry. Picture: Getty Images
"You're just trying to make as many birdies as possible. The hole looks pretty big at that point, so I was just going for it as much as I could.
"Like I said, I was trying to undo some of the damage from yesterday and move up as high as I could."
As for her plan for today's final round, she said: "Try and make as many birdies as we can and give myself as many chances, and hopefully the putter behaves like it did today and not yesterday."
On the PGA Tour, Tony Finau leads the Cadence Bank Houston Open by four strokes from Ben Taylor on 15-under par, carding a third rounds 68 to match the 54-hole tournament record set by Curtis Strange in 1980.
Meanwhile, Thomas Detry and Rasmus Højgaard share a one-shot lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge following an action-packed Saturday at the Gary Player Country Club.
The 66-player field faced an early start to complete round two after bad weather hit Sun City on Friday, but Detry produced a blistering start and finish to his third round to sign for a five-under-par 67.
That took the Belgian – who is chasing a maiden DP World Tour title - to nine under for the week, where he was joined by Dane Højgaard after his third successive 69.
Detry started his third round at the tenth and birdied his opening two holes before picking up another shot at the 14th. Two bogies and another gain followed in his next ten holes before he reeled off three birdies to finish.
Three-time DP World Tour winner Højgaard also made a quick start with a birdie at the second but after dropping shots at the fourth and eighth his round kicked into life at the ninth when he rolled in an eagle putt from 14 feet, adding two further birdies on the back nine to join Detry at the summit.
South Africans Thriston Lawrence and Branden Grace are at eight under par, while European Ryder Cup Captain Luke Donald and another home favourite in Christiaan Bezuidenhout are two shots further back.
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood and DP World Rankings number two Ryan Fox are then at six under par alongside India’s Shubhankar Sharma.
