Leona Maguire is on track to become the first Irishwoman to win a tour event after opening up a three shot lead at the Meijer Classic.

The 26-year-old from Cavan shot an 8 under par round of 64 to move to 15 under par at Blythefield Country Club in Michigan.

Her excellent round included 8 birdies and an eagle and she is three shots clear of her nearest challenger Su Oh of Australia.

Maguire is bidding to become the first woman from Ireland to win a LPGA or European Tour event.

She was the number one ranked amateur in the world for 135 weeks.

She has jumped 108 places in the professional world rankings in the last year and currently lies 88th following three top ten places already this year.

One of those was at the Mediheal Championship last week and Maguire is happy to keep building momentum.

"Was really proud of how I came out today. Last week in San Francisco was leading after day one and struggled on day two, so it was nice to put a really good number back to back in rounds one and two and even go one better today.

"So, yeah, it was really nice sort of building on that momentum going into the weekend."

Maguire, who has Shane Lowry's former caddie Dermot Byrne on the bag, feels Blythefield Country Club reminds her of courses back in Ireland.

"Yeah, I think any time you're comfortable out on the golf course it definitely helps. Felt pretty much at home this week. Bit warmer today I think than it is in Ireland, but maybe the rain this morning reminded me a bit more of home.

"Yeah, but I like the golf course. It suits my eye. Hopefully it'll -- I'll keep liking it over the weekend."

The purse for this week's winner is $345,000.