Leona Maguire is licking her lips ahead of this week’s HSBC Women’s World Championship after closing with a bogey-free 65 to finish tied sixth in the Honda LPGA Thailand.

The Co Cavan star saw her victory hopes dashed by a poor back nine in a third-round 72 at Siam Country Club.

But after heading into the final round 11 strokes behind Thai rookie Natthakritta Vontaveelap, she made seven birdies and kept a bogey off her card for the third time in four rounds.

The world No 11 finished on 16-under par, six strokes behind American Lilia Vu, who shot a 64 to Vontaveelap’s 71 to pip the local by a shot on 22-under for her first LPGA win.

“I played really solid, probably the best I played all week,” Maguire said after her second top-10 in as many LPGA starts this year. “Nice to go bogey-free on a Sunday. Felt like I played really solid all week. Just six holes yesterday afternoon kind of cost me.

“I mean, to go three days bogey-free, I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before, so hopefully, more of the same.”

Maguire made five bogeys in seven holes from the 11th on Saturday before closing with a birdie to post a third-round 72 that took her out of the running.

But she learned to have more patience in the final round, starting with back-to-back birdies.

“I feel like this course, it doesn’t take much for it to go one way or the other,” she said. “I hit a couple of not-even-bad shots yesterday afternoon and got really punished for them.”

After winning in just her second start of the season last year, Maguire’s got high hopes for Singapore this week after following a disappointing tie for 40th in the Saudi Ladies International with three bogey-free rounds in Thailand.

“I think my short game was really tidy this week, so any time I did miss a green, I got it up and down or didn’t give myself too much stress for par putts, which was nice,” she said.

“So, yeah, just trying to fine-tune everything. Drove it decently well this week as well. Yeah, just keep fine-tuning everything, really.”

On the DP World Tour, Germany’s Marcel Siem (42) claimed his first win for more than eight years when he negotiated thick rough at the par-five 18th, found the green in three and two-putted for a four-under 68 to edge out compatriot Yannick Paul by a shot in the Hero Indian Open in New Delhi.

A World Cup winner with Bernhard Langer in 2006, he claimed his fourth tour win at the 2014 BMW Masters, lost his card in 2018, and won it back via the Challenge Tour in 2021 only to be forced back to Q-School in 2022.

“My goal was to be as calm as possible, but that lie was horrible on the last, so it got the heart rate going up for sure,” said Siem. “I’ve worked really hard. It’s crazy. A second kick-start for my career.

“Thank you so much to my whole family and my team, my sponsors. I think there’s more to come now.

“This means a lot because two years ago, I wasn’t even sure if I could still compete on the DP World Tour, and now I’m a winner again, come on!”

On the Challenge Tour, Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee (32) made nine birdies in an eight-under 64 to jump from 33rd to tied third in the Nelson Mandela Bay Championship in South Africa.

He finished on 14-under par, just two strokes behind South Africa’s Dylan Mostert, who carded a 67 to win by one stroke from countryman Jaco Prinsloo on 16-under par.