69 puts Leona Maguire in the hunt at Ladies European Masters

Leona Maguire is tied for fourth position in the Ladies European Masters after she posted a third consecutive under par round at Buckinghamshire Golf Club.

The 20-year-old followed up her opening rounds of 69 and 70 with another 69 on Saturday, leaving her eight under par for the tournament and four shots off lead of Germany's Caroline Masson.

Maguire started solidly, picking up a single birdie on the par three fifth to reach the turn one under.

Her second round had been tarnished by a poor finish where she dropped shots on the 16th and 18th holes, but she was much stronger as she turned for home on Saturday.

A birdie on the 10th was given back on 13th, her only dropped shot of the day, before she made picked up shots on the 14th and 17th to leave herself right in contention heading into the final round.

Maguire was pleased with her efforts which have left her in a three-way tie for fourth spot on the leaderboard with Australia's Rebecca Artis and Taipei's Ssu-Chia Cheng, she said: "Three rounds under par is a good start so far and I'm in a good position. It was a lot windier today so I'm very happy with my score.

“It’s coming in gusts and there were a lot of cross winds out there today so it was sometimes hard to figure out exactly where the wind was coming from. I think I navigated it pretty well.

“I didn’t finish as well as I would have liked yesterday so I really focused coming down the stretch. It was nice to get a birdie on 17 and finish strong like that.”

Maguire is challenging heading into the final day despite being an amateur, and the next highest placed amateur on the leaderboard is England’s India Clyburn back in 51st.

On the prospect of turning pro she said: “It’s always a great opportunity to play against the pros to test your game. Obviously I’d love to be out here one day playing against them.

“I’m going to take it as it comes. I’ve one year done in college in the States so I’ve three more left but we’ll see how it goes. I’ll take it as it comes.”