Three bogeys on the back nine saw Leona Maguire drop down the leaderboard and will begin the final round of the CPKC Women's Open tied for 11th, half a dozen shots off joint leaders Brooke Henderson and Minjee Lee.
A round of 72 was the Cavan native's highest of the tournament thus far, but things had looked much different on the front nine in Mississauga, Ontario.
Having started the day tied for second, the 30-year-old signalled her intent with birdies at the fourth and fifth.
A dropped shot at the sixth was immediately cancelled out, a superb approach shot at the par-four seventh allowing her to roll in a putt from about six feet to move to eight-under par and a share of the lead.
That was to prove the high-water mark of the round as the birdies dried up and dropped shots at 11, 15 and at the last saw her fall back to five-under par.
Maguire sits in a congested chasing group at five under that also includes former world number one Lydia Ko, Megan Khang, Gaby Lopez and Alexa Pano.
Henderson, playing on home soil, shot a six-under 65, covering the final three holes in four-under par and will begin Sunday’s final round with Australian Lee for company as joint-leader.
Lee hit two eagles in her round but feels she has room for improvement on the greens.
"I felt like I was hitting it really solid," she said. "With the score that I had, I felt like I left a few out there. So just going to work a bit on my putting afterwards trying to get the speed and the line right."
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand shot two-under to move into a third-place tie with Japan's Akie Iwai, who led after each of the first two rounds before shooting one- over on Saturday.
Additional reporting: Reuters
