Leona Maguire is seven shots off the lead ahead of Sunday's final round at The Ascendant LPGA in Texas.
Fresh from helping Europe retain the Solheim Cup two weeks ago, the third round at the Old American Golf Club proved the toughest of the tournament so far for the Cavan native who carded a three-over 74 that leaves her in a five-way tie for 13th on two under.
Maguire bogeyed five times across Saturday with the only high points coming with birdies on eight and 15.
South Korea's Hyo-Joo Kim holds a commanding lead on 11 under after a 70, five shots clear of Lexi Thompson (71) and Sarah Kemp (69).
Sweden's Frida Kinhult is a shot further back in fourth after a 68.
Maguire will tee off her final round at 9:50am local time (3.50pm Irish time) on Sunday.
At the summit, the world number 7-ranked Kim ran into a bit of early trouble with bogeys on holes four and six but rebounded on the back nine with birdies on 13, 15 and 16.
Kemp, who was tied for ninth after the second round, overcame five bogeys with five birdies, along with an eagle on the par-4 15th hole.
"Yeah, didn't realize the tee was going to be moved up today," Kemp said of the 15th hole. "It's a great move-up by the LPGA because it's not an easy (one) - even short is a difficult chip. Long is difficult chip on that green. I just happened to play it perfectly.
"Got a great bounce from the front of the green and I had, what, maybe fivefeet for eagle, so that was awesome."
Thompson, who led the field with a 65 on Friday to move into a tie for third, bogeyed three of her first four holes before settling down with three birdies on the back nine.
"It definitely played a lot more difficult out there," Thompson said. "I didn't get off to the best of starts.
"It seemed to be super windy in the first four, five holes, and then kind of calmed down and came back up here and there."
Additional reporting: Reuters
