Madelene Sagstrom leads at 19-under going into the final round at the Cognizant Founders Cup, currently sitting just one shot ahead of Rose Zhang, who is at 18-under. Both players stole the show on Saturday, as they seemed to dominate Upper Montclair Country Club on Moving Day. Sagstrom and Zhang each shot their third consecutive round in the 60s and are 11 and 10 shots, respectively, ahead of their next competitor at 8-under.
Sagstrom made a quick birdie on the second hole before hitting a streak of pars from holes 3 to 6. The Swede then began to pick up steam in her round toward the end of her front nine, carding three consecutive birdies on the par-4 7th, par-3 8th and par-5 9th holes. Making the turn at 4-under, she again kept quiet at Upper Montclair until No. 14, where she carded her fifth birdie of the day. One last birdie came on her second-to-last hole, as she made the putt to reach 19-under par for the tournament.
“I thought I was going to make everything today. I looked at everything, oh, this is going in, oh, this is going in,” said Sagstrom, who carded no bogeys on Saturday and recorded her fourth bogey-free round since the start of 2024. “I felt like there was a lot of movement in my body when they were hitting the edges. I felt so in sync with my speed. It's been great, so everything looked like they were going in, burning edged all day long. It's a nice feeling knowing wherever I am on the green, I have a chance to make birdie, which relaxes the rest of the game a little bit. Shane was like, we just need to hit the green, and I can figure it out from there.”
Sagstrom looks to earn her second career victory in her eight years on the LPGA Tour. The last time she held a 54-hole lead/co-lead, she earned her first victory at Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio in 2020, with tomorrow marking 1,568 days since she became a Rolex First-Time Winner in Florida. If she ultimately hoists the trophy on Sunday, Sagstrom would become the first Swede to win on Tour since Linn Grant (2023 Dana Open), and the oldest LPGA Tour winner since Amy Yang (34 years old, 2023 CME Group Tour Championship).
For the only time on Saturday, Zhang moved into solo lead with a birdie on her first hole, but she followed it up with a bogey on the par-5 2nd hole to fall one shot behind Sagstrom. The 20-year-old carded two more birdies on her front nine on Nos. 5 and 7, making the turn at 2-under. Zhang then went birdie-bogey-birdie on her first three holes of the back nine, still sitting one shot behind the lead. She made back-to-back birdies on holes 14 and 15 before parring out the rest of the round.
“Very satisfied with how I played,” said Zhang, who has carded the most birdies (21) and the least amount of putts (79) across the field over the last three rounds. “I feel like the last two days gained a little bit of confidence in my own game, and it's nice to see some putts continue to drop. Even though I had a couple of errant shots, I felt like I got back into it pretty quickly. Overall, just very satisfied.”
Zhang would also earn her second career victory on Tour with a win on Sunday, and it would be her second consecutive winning season in her young career. The amateur phenom turned professional just last year after accepting the immediate LPGA Tour Membership offered following her win at the Mizuho Americas Open.
“I think it was just such a blast to really see my shots and be able to hit whatever I could and commit to everything. Seeing it come to fruition leaves me very satisfied,” said Zhang, who will return next week to the Mizuho Americas Open as the defending champion. “Obviously, no matter what happens tomorrow, it's more so just at least I have this little spark of I've got some good rounds in competitively, and I can move forward with that.”
Both players, who sit 10 or more shots ahead of the other 70 players in the field, return on Sunday to battle for the second LPGA Tour trophies of their careers. Tee times begin at 6:55 a.m. ET, with the final group of Sagstrom and Zhang starting their rounds at 12:45 p.m. ET. Watch live by tuning into Peacock (1-5 p.m. ET) and CNBC (3-5 pm. ET). Streaming is also available on ESPN+, with featured group coverage of Brooke Henderson/Cheyenne Knight and Georgia Hall/Roberta Liti (early groups) and Minjee Lee/Hannah Green and Anna Nordqvist/Wichanee Meechai (afternoon groups).
)
)
)
)
