Lottie Woad will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour's Kroger Queen City Championship after firing a five-under 65 in a weather-disrupted third round at Maketewah Country Club in Ohio.

The 21-year-old, who followed a second-round 64 with another low card, stood on 11 under after Saturday's play and moved three strokes clear of Amanda Doherty. Haeran Ryu was four strokes back in third, with Lydia Ko next on the board and Jeeno Thitikul and Rose Zhang part of a logjam on five under. Woad's surge comes a week after she missed the cut at the Mizuho Americas Open, a setback she put down to a putting problem that was quickly fixed.

Woad said her putter grip was not straight last week and that she has since changed it, adding that she tried to treat the missed cut as an anomaly. She said she had been playing consistently before then and that the earlier course had been tricky in places. At Maketewah, she has made far more of her chances, with a run of birdies that began at the par-four third and included back-to-back gains from the seventh, a birdie at the par-five 14th and another at the 16th for a seventh birdie of the day. Her lead was trimmed to three when she bogeyed the penultimate hole.

The pressure behind her also sharpened the shape of the leaderboard. Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko both slipped to tied-19th after rough third rounds, with Korda shooting 72 and Jin Young Ko carding 75. Defending champion Charley Hull, who had been two off the lead after the opening day, fell to three over for the tournament after a 73 and made only one birdie while dropping three consecutive bogeys in her third round. The final round is scheduled for Sunday, with Woad now the player everyone else has to catch.

Woad's form has broader meaning as well. She is expected to make her Team Europe debut in this September's Solheim Cup, and a win in Ohio would send her there with real momentum. After one poor week, she has answered with two days of clean striking, saying she hit a lot of fairways and greens and gave herself plenty of chances. That is usually enough on a weekend when the weather has already altered the rhythm of the tournament.

The question now is whether anyone can force her into a fight. Doherty is still within striking distance, but Woad goes into Sunday controlling the pace of the event and holding the sort of lead that can turn a first LPGA title into a statement.