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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Eamon Doggett

Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow come up short in KPMG Women's PGA Championship

Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow came up short as China's Ruoning Yin won the KPMG Women's PGA Championship.

Hopes were high that either Maguire or Meadow could become the first Irish woman to win a major championship.

But, playing together in the final group, they struggled to gain any momentum as the lead changed hands throughout a dramatic final day.

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Maguire took a one-shot lead heading into the last 18 holes at Baltusrol Golf Club, with Meadow two shots behind.

After opening with five straight pars, Maguire bogeyed the par four 6th hole before another dropped shot followed on the 8th hole.

Meadow began with six straight pars of her own before she broke that run with a birdie on the par five 7th hole.

But the 31-year-old fell back into the pack after a bogey on the 11th hole.

A birdie on the 13th hole sparked hopes of a Maguire revival, but she dropped a shot on the very next hole.

The putter went stone cold on the Cavan woman as her hopes of a maiden major title faded on the back nine.

With the clubhouse lead posted at eight-under-par by China's RuoningYin, Meadow birdied the 17th hole to get to six-under-par leaving her needing to eagle the par-five 18th.

After a good drive down the fairway, Meadow had a chance of finding the necessary eagle, but she hit her second shot terribly thin and was lucky that the ball skipped across a creek and onto dry land.

To her credit, Meadow regained her composure to hit a good third short and give herself a chance of a closing birdie.

But her putt was wide of the mark to leave her in a tie for third place on six-under-par for the tournament and collect $454,000 (€416,000).

Maguire's closing round of 74 saw her finish on four-under-par and in a tie for 11th place and collect $171,000 (€157,000).

Ruoning Yin, 20, won her first major title after carding a bogey-free 67 to finish one shot ahead of former US Women's Open champion Yuka Saso.

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