Ireland's Leona Maguire has unleashed a nine-under-par 63 to catch Kiwi leader Lydia Ko with one round remaining at the LPGA Tour championship at Naples, Florida.
The pair will tee off together for the final round at 10:35am Monday (NZ time), still five strokes clear of their nearest chasers at the Tiburon Golf Club.
Ko, 25, began the day with a five-shot advantage and carded a two-under 70 that included two bogeys in the first five holes, conceding ground to her challengers.
The only one that could sustain their run was Maguire, who completed a faultless round that included four straight birdies from the eighth to 11th holes, then back-to-back on the 16th and 17th to edge ahead of Ko, who regained a share with birdie at the par-five 17th.
"I played really nice," said Maguire. "My caddy has been talking a lot about patience this week and just committing to my targets, and I did that well today.
"I got a few rolling early on, got some momentum and it was nice to see a few drop."
On the 17th, Ko hit her tee shot into some pine straw and flirted with penalty by extracting strands from around the ball, before hitting a hybrid from her unstable lie to the fringe of the green, then chipping to within inches of the hole to set up her birdie.
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