Chanettee Wannasaen shot a 5-under-par 66 on Saturday to continue her blistering start at the Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio.
The Thai golfer fired six birdies, including one at No. 18 to cap her round, extending her Friday lead from a single stroke to three. Wannasaen, who previously won the Portland Classic in 2023, now sits at 16-under 197 for the tournament.
Stephanie Meadow sits just inside the top 70 after a third-round 72 left her on one-over par.
The Antrim golfer had slipped back after Friday's 74, but she was steadiness personified on Saturday with her round including 15 pars in all, although she should have been disappointed not to have taken advantage of some good work off the tee having hit 11 fairways from 14.
There were two bogeys in her round too – at the par-three second and par-four 11th – with her only birdie on the penultimate hole, the second time this week she has picked up a shot on 17.
Wannasaen has collected 17 birdies against just three bogeys over the first 54 holes.
"Yeah, I didn't expect that," Wannasaen said. "But I really play well this week."
On Saturday, Wannasaen got off to a steady start with birdies at Nos. 2 and 9while posting pars the rest of the front nine. She quickly heated up with three straight birdies at Nos. 12-14 before a bogey at 16 and her final birdie at 18.
Wannasaen's closest competitor is South Korea's Haeran Ryu, who sits at 13under after firing a 6-under 65 on Saturday.
Ryu suffered a bogey at the par-5 seventh, but seven birdies more than made up for that.
Defending tournament champion Linn Grant of Sweden fell an additional four shots off the pace with a 1-under 70, leaving her in a tie for third place with two other golfers - Ssu-Chia Cheng of Taiwan (66 on Saturday) and XiyuLin of China (70).
Grant finished an up-and-down day with four birdies and three bogeys. Lin rallied from a rough start -- three bogeys through the first 11 holes -- to score four birdies over a five-hole stretch (Nos. 14-18) on the back nine.
Meanwhile, Cheng had six birdies and a single bogey.
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