Leona Maguire will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Women's PGA Championship as she bids to become Ireland's first female Major champion.
The Cavan golfer birdied the last to card a third-round 69, giving her a narrow advantage on seven-under-par over Jenny Shin of Korea on -6.
Antrim's Stephanie Meadow is also battling to become 'Ireland's first' after a round of 67 left her just two shots behind Maguire.
Maguire's day got off to the perfect start with a birdie on the first hole. She picked up another shot on the par-five seventh as she breezed through the front nine.
Her first hiccup came on the 11th when a shortish par putt slipped past. She got that shot back with a lovely putt on the 15th for birdie before making something of a mess of 17.
On the par five, her drive found the right rough - just her fourth missed fairway of the week - meaning she could only hack the ball up the fairway. With over 200 yards left for her third, she found the greenside bunker.
After a decent effort from the sand, Maguire's putt slipped out the side door. She reset nicely on the final hole however and grabbed a much-needed birdie to ensure her name sat atop the leaderboard heading into Sunday.
Meadow's tidy 67 included five birdies and just the one dropped shot at the tricky 10th hole.
The 17th and 18th holes at Baltsurol are both playing as par-fives this week, which could bring an extra wrinkle of strategy into play Sunday. No 17 is a three-shot hole, but many players are reaching the 18th green in two.
"Great risk-reward," Meadow said of the setup. "Anything can happen coming in there, especially on 18."
After her round, a focused Maguire said: "The game plan's the same as it was over the last three days. Trying to go out and execute really good gold shots and if it's enough tomorrow it's enough.
"The plan we got right, I just didn't quite hit a couple of my targets that I would have liked but for the most part I played really, really solid golf. My game's in good shape. Just one more day...
"I know it would mean a lot but I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself or think of things like that, so it's just another day on the golf tomorrow. Me and [caddy] Dermot [Byrne] will enjoy the walk and whatever will be, will be."
Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa (70 on Saturday) and Ruoning Yin ofChina (69) are tied for fourth with Meadow at 4 under.
World No 1 Jin Young Ko of South Korea made her move with a run of four birdies from 12-15.
She shot a 69 and is tied for sixth at three under with Lauren Coughlin (68).
Megan Khang (67), Mina Harigae (70), Japan's Yuka Saso(69) and Xiyu Lin of China (73) all sit in eighth at 2 under.
Of the top 11 players through three rounds, only two have won a major title before: Ko and Saso.
Shin matched the low round of the week with her bogey-free 66. Her lone win on the LPGA Tour came back in 2016, and she's had just two top-10 finishes at majors.
Maguire, conversely, earned her second LPGA victory last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic. Once the No. 1 amateur in the sport, the now 28-year-old is ranked No. 12 in the world and this week marks the first time she's led a major championship.
"I feel like I handled it pretty well and tried not to treat it any differently than any other round, just like last week," Maguire said. "I think same mindset (Sunday)."
Maguire is the only player in the field to shoot all three rounds in the 60s.She's hit 38 of 42 fairways and 48 of 54 greens in regulation.
"One more day of patience," Maguire said. "I know it's a cliché, but I think this golf course really demands it."
The final round has been brought forward due to adverse weather conditions and the Irish duo will tee off at 3.38pm.
Additional reporting: Reuters
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