Mi Hyang Lee carded a 1-under 71 on a difficult day for scoring Saturday to take a three-shot lead over Hye-Jin Choi and Yu Liu entering the final round of the Blue Bay

“I’m really proud of myself to make seven birdies. Was on the way to make six bogeys,” Lee said of her third round. “A lot of up and down, but still finished under par, so really looking forward to tomorrow.”

Lee survived a rollercoaster round of seven birdies and six bogeys to finish at 12-under. She is now in position to secure her first LPGA Tour victory since the 2017 ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open.

Choi, who has two top-25 finishes in just two starts this season, shot a 4-under-par 68 to move up nine spots to share second with Lui, who was in solo second after day two in the People’s Republic of China.

“I had a really good start of the round and my shot was really good and I had lots of birdie chances,” Choi said after her 4-under par round. “I also made a lot of long putts. The back nine, it was not a really good situation compared to the front nine, but I made a lot of good saves.”

Liu struggled to a 1-over 73, a round defined by an eagle and two birdies countered by three bogeys and a double bogey. With a win, she would join Shanshan Feng as the only athletes from the People’s Republic of China to claim the Blue Bay LPGA title.

A trio of golfers sits four strokes back at 8-under, including defending champion Rio Takeda, three-time Olympian Aditi Ashok, and major champion A Lim Kim. Takeda is seeking her third LPGA Tour title, while Kim has finished in the top 10 in two of her first three tournaments this season.

Weiwei Zhang and Auston Kim share seventh place at 7-under. Lucy Li and Muni He round out the top 10 at 6-under par. Li surged into a tie for ninth after firing a 5-under 67, climbing 19 spots on the leaderboard.