Former world number one Jiyai Shin has claimed the Australian Open lead following the third round in Melbourne.
Shin parlayed a red-hot start into a 5-under-par 68 at Melbourne's Victoria Golf Club on Saturday to grab a one-stroke advantage over South Africa's reigning British Open champion Ashleigh Buhai (66).
Australia's Hannah Green (71) – who led the women's field at the dual-gender tournament after the second round — is lurking one shot further back.
Australian Open Champion at Royal Canberra in 2013, South Korea's Shin moved to 14-under for the tournament in Melbourne to head up a star-studded leaderboard loaded with major winners.
Buhai's round featured a birdie blitz either side of the turn as the two frontrunners threatened to extend the local title drought to almost a decade.
But Green finished with consecutive birdies to revive Australian hopes after they appeared to be slipping away.
At one point, the 2019 US PGA champion was five shots behind Shin before her late flurry — coupled with a sloppy double bogey from the South Korean on the par-three 16th hole — pulled the deficit back to just two.
"I was pretty disappointed with how I was playing so it's nice to at least finish on a positive note with two birdies," Green said.
"But you just never know on this golf course. It's starting to get firm and depends on how the wind is, so you just have to stay patient, which is difficult."
Australian first-round leader Grace Kim also rallied late to salvage a 70 to climb to 9-under and a share of fifth with another South Korean former world number one, So Yeon Ryu (70).
World number four Minjee Lee looks out of contention after her round of 70 left the US Open champion seven strokes off the pace at 7-under.
No Australian has won the Open since the legendary Karrie Webb claimed her fifth title in 2014, also at Victoria.
Fittingly, Webb has emerged from semi-retirement this week to play in the historic Australian Open and made the second cut on Saturday night.
Webb shares 20th spot at 2-over following an even-par 72.
AAP/ABC
