THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD US unless stated +1 Michelle Wie (am), Karen Stupples (GB), Morgan Pressel (am) +2 Birdie Kim (Kor), Young Jo (Kor), Paula Creamer +3 Young Kim (Kor), Angela Stanford +4 Jamie Hullett, Candie Kung (Tpe), Christie Kerr

Stupples had three bogeys in her first eight holes but then posted six birdies in succession, before a dropped shot at the last left her at one over.

Wie dropped two shots in the opening four but recovered with three birdies to post a 72 at Cherry Hills.

Annika Sorenstam had a double bogey in her 73 and is five shots off the pace.

By coincidence, that was the margin Sorenstam clawed back to win her first LPGA title 10 years ago.

"I've got 18 more holes to play, and I'm going to give it my all," she said.

Wie, who was put on the clock for slow play, will be in the penultimate group in the final round, ahead of Stupples and Pressel.

The elegant six-foot 15-year-old from Hawaii found some difficult spots in the rough, but her power saved her on several occasions, although a fourth dropped shot came at the 16th when a wedge from the thick rye grass sank into more trouble short of the green.

"I think I need to shoot under par," she said.

Stupples began her remarkable run of birdies at the ninth where she hit a seven-iron to 20 feet and holed the putt.

She was left with only five feet at the next and another birdie followed at the 11th when she got up and down from a bunker at the par-five.

Her next three birdie putts were all inside eight feet, and amazingly it could have been seven in a row, only for the effort at the 15th to finish a fraction short.

Pressel withstood the pressure at the end of the round with a birdie and seven closing pars.

"I definitely played very well up to here. I've stayed pretty calm and not made any real big errors, not taken bogeys so hard and I'm right in there," she said.

Nicole Perrot of Chile led by two shots after two rounds but she missed a short bogey putt at the opening hole, and dropped four more shots on the way out to turn in 41, before finishing with a 78 to drop to five over.

Defending champion Mag Mallon reached two over after birdies at the seventh and 10th, but a disastrous triple bogey six at the 12th led to a 75 and a seven over total.