Nataliya Guseva broke onto the professional scene in 2023 while competing on the Epson Tour, making 19 starts as a rookie on the Official Qualifying Tour of the LPGA, with finishes top-10 finishes, including her first professional victory at the 2023 Black Desert Resort Championship. The 2023 season ended with Guseva falling just short of her LPGA Tour card, finishing 14th in the Race for the Card.

But it was ultimately a T23 finish at 2023 Final Qualifying that earned Guseva the LPGA Tour membership she fell just short of during her rookie Epson Tour season. She made the cut in her first career LPGA Tour start at the LPGA Drive On Championship in January, ultimately finishing the week in a tie for 49th. Two events later, the 2024 rookie earned her first top-10 finish at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro with a T6 result.

“I remember my first event was in Bradenton. I was super nervous teeing up,” explained Guseva after her third round at the CME Globe Tour Championship. “It was just some different feelings, especially (since) last season I was on the Epson Tour, which really helped me to grow up and mature. I learned a lot. How to travel, how to do things right, not wrong. It’s definitely a learning curve.”

The top 10 is the first of five that Guseva has collected this year, a slate of finishes that includes two runner-up finishes at the Portland Classic and the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoaklei just two weeks ago.

Guseva entered the CME Group Tour Championship at 28th in the Race to CME Globe and was coming off five straight made cuts.

Now, through 54 holes in Naples, Fla., Guseva finds herself inside the top 10 of the tournament, which has the second biggest purse of 2024 at $11 million. The season finale only includes the top 60 in the Race to CME Globe, and Guseva has continued her stellar play against the best 60 players on Tour through the first three rounds of the CME Group Tour Championship.

A 5-under 67 in her third round at Tiburón Golf Club kept Guseva within five shots of the leaders and in a tie for sixth. The day included seven birdies and two bogeys, with the rookie going bogey-free from her fifth hole on. A five-shot lead will be tough to overcome, but Guseva has been making plenty of birdies during the last event of 2024, rolling in 18 birdies total thus far. Eliminate a few bogeys, and she is right in the mix for win, which is exactly what she will try to do tomorrow.

“Honestly, I didn't have any expectations going into today's round. Being at the final stage of the season, it's obviously nice, especially for my rookie year,” said Guseva. “My putter was pretty hot out there, which really helped. When putting goes right, you just can release stuff, so I really hope tomorrow is going to be the same round, and I'm going to take it the same way.”

Guseva will tee it up for her final round of the season tomorrow at 10:14 a.m. ET and will be looking to make one last charge before heading into the offseason.

Nataliya Guseva Continues Impressive Play at the CME Globe Tour Championship

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