Local golfer Ko Jin-young has carded a sparkling six-under-par 66 in Saturday's third round of the LPGA event in South Korea to move two shots clear of compatriots Park Sung-hyun and Chun In-gee in Incheon.
Australia's Minjee Lee remains in contention, four shots off the lead on 205, tied fifth after rounds of 66, 71 and 68.
Ko, who sits at 15 under for the $US2 million ($A2.5 million) tournament, will join Park and Chun on Sunday in a final grouping of three of South Korea's most-popular players.
Lizette Salas moved into contention a shot further back on 12 under after a third-round 68. American overnight leader Angel Yin struggled for consistency and finished even par to sit in a group of three on 11 under.
Park, who could replace Ryu So-yeon as world No.1 with a win and is a certainty for US LPGA rookie of the year, picked up four shots through nine holes to seize the lead but faltered coming home. She did well to salvage par at the last after driving into a hazard and finished with a 68.
Chun sank her fourth birdie of the day at the last for a four-under 68 to move into a good position for her first win of the season after five runner-up finishes on the US tour.
But the day belonged to Ko. She still plays on the domestic Korean Tour and seems poised to fill the vacuum left by the departure of Park and Chun for the more-lucrative US tour.
The 22-year-old had her irons dialled-in all day, almost holing out for eagle at the ninth and 10th, and would have been further ahead had her putting been as sharp.
"I think my iron shots today were really strong so I was able to make a lot of birdie chances for myself," she told reporters.
"Although I'm in the lead ... there are a lot of great players out there in the field. I think tomorrow I would have to really focus and concentrate.
"At the same time, I haven't seen some of those players for a while so it will be a lot of fun to play with them."
Spain's Carlota Ciganda is still in with a chance of defending her title after carding a 67 to be five off the lead.
Australian Su Oh is out of the hunt, sitting 15 strokes off the lead in a tie for 46th.
She is four shots ahead of compatriot Sarah Jane Smith, with Katherine Kirk a further five back.
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