American Stacy Lewis had two back-nine eagles in the LPGA Tour's season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas Classic to put herself in position to end a long winless streak.
Lewis shot a 10-under 63 at Ocean Club to match compatriot Lexi Thompson atop the leaderboard at 23-under 196, one off the tour 54-hole record for relation to par set by Annika Sorenstam in Japan in the 2003 Mizuno Classic.
Lewis was second in the event in 2014 and tied for second last year, one of her 11 runner-up finishes since her last victory in June 2014.
She has 11 tour victories, including two majors.
"I knew I needed to be aggressive out there today, and it wasn't pretty at times, wasn't perfect, but the scorecard turned out great," Lewis said.
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"You've just got to take advantage. When those miss-hits work out good, you take advantage of it, and that's what I did today."
Lewis holed out from the fairway for eagle on the par-5 11th, birdied the next two, and dropped a stroke on the par-4 14th.
She birdied the par-3 17th and made a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th and had four birdies on the front nine.
Thompson followed her tournament-record 61 on Friday with a 66.
Gerina Piller was a stroke back, birdieing the final two holes for her second straight 65. Brittany Lincicome, the leader after each of the first two round, had a 69 fall two shot behind.
Sarah Jane Smith had a round of 73 to be three under and tied 69th and is the only Australian left in the field.
