“We are definitely going to get a bit of an Irish day tomorrow” – Irish Golfer Magazine

Leona Maguire hasn’t quite been greeted with the traditional July summer conditions she would have been hoping for at the Centurion Club but she is relishing the test as she leads the Aramco Team Series London.

Maguire ground out a round of 72 to move to eight-under and remain top the leaderboard heading into the final round, two shots clear of former AIG Women’s Open winner Georgia Hall.

This is the first of a summer series of golf on European soil for Maguire which will include the Olympics, the Evian Championship and the AIG Women’s Open and the KPMG Women’s Irish Open so there will be plenty of opportunities for Maguire to get her maiden Ladies European Tour win to add to her pair of LPGA Tour titles.

“Every week you tee it up, you want to do your very best. It’s nice to be back on the LET for a few events this summer, so this was always going to be a really good warm-up for the Evian. I’ll try and play as well as I possibly can tomorrow. I know the forecast looks a bit dodgy, so we are definitely going to get a bit of an Irish day tomorrow,” said the Cavan woman.

The 29-year-old arguably plays her best golf when the conditions are at their most difficult so some wind and perhaps rain won’t faze her in the slightest.

“It’s playing a little bit linksy. The course is running out, getting firm and fast, and the wind is quite strong. It was swirling in places, so you just try to hit a few punchy shots that I probably haven’t used in a while. It’s definitely a welcome back to European golf. It’s a good test and I enjoyed it.

“I think we’ll see tomorrow what the weather is like. I will try and post a number, and if that’s good enough, it’s good enough. Especially on this kind of golf course, you can’t get too caught up in what other people do. I feel like there could be quite a few swings, a shot here or a shot there. So just go out and try to post a number and see what happens.”

Lauren Walsh managed to make the cut on her Aramco Series debut on two-over-par.