Sei Young Kim of South Korea took advantage of moving day at the CME Group Tour Championship on Saturday to slide into the top spot on the leaderboard after Round 3 in Naples, Florida.
The Rolex Rankings No. 2 player in the world carded a five-under 67 at Tiburon Golf Club to move to 13 under and take a one-shot lead over fellow country woman and world No. 1 Jin Young Ko (69), who held the lead going into Saturday.
Irish duo Leona Maguire and Stephanie Meadow enjoyed their strongest rounds on day three, both carding 69s.
Cavan's Maguire consequently moves up to a tie for 34th on two under, after picking up three shots, while Northern Ireland's Meadow is one stroke further back on one under.
At the top though, Kim carded six birdies over her first 13 holes then seemed to level off before dropping shot to the field with a three-putt bogey on 18.
"I had (birdies at) Nos. 10 and 11, and then 13," said Kim.
"But I try to keep the same momentum, but it was tough at 13. So, yeah, I try to finish strong, but I had three-putt the hole 18, so I just, yeah, little disappointed with that. I just keep it up tomorrow."
Ko's bogey-free round included three birdies, at Nos. three, seven and 17, and satisfied her goal for the day.
"I just try to make a birdies, and then I said yesterday my goal is like just bogey-free round on the weekend, so I made it today," said Ko, 25, who played her way into this week's LPGA season finale with just three starts in 2020."I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Britain's Georgia Hall shot 68 on Saturday to move into solo third place at 10 under. After making the turn at one over, Hall posted five birdies over holes 11-17 to make a move of her own.
"I hit it pretty good today as well. I just didn't hole many on the front nine, so I had to stay patient," she said.
"(I) managed to get a couple early in the back nine and then just followed in from there really. Very happy with my back nine to get me especially into contention for tomorrow."
Rounding out the top five in a tie for fourth place at nine under are Canada's Brooke Henderson (66), Britain's Charley Hull (66), Australia's Minjee Lee (66) and American's Austin Ernst (69) and Lexi Thompson (71), the first-round leader.
Four players are tied for ninth at eight under including Cristie Kerr and Mina Harigae, and Australia's Lydia Ko and Hannah Green. Ko, the 2014 champion, also holds the 18-hole scoring record at Tiberon (second-round 62 in 2016).
There is no cut for the 72-player field, who all have an equal chance at the $1.1 million winner's prize, the largest in 2020.
