Lee surged into a share of third spot with a third round five-under-par 66 at the Amundi Evian Championship in France on Saturday.

The World No.7 trails Celine Boutier by four shots entering the final round after the French local carded a 67 to retain the one-stroke lead she enjoyed at the halfway point of the tournament.

Japan's Nasa Hataoka is the only other player ahead of Lee after a third round 68 pushed her to within three shots of Boutier at eight-under.

Lee overcame a seven-shot final round deficit in Evian les Bains two years ago to claim her maiden major title at the Evian Championship.

The 26-year-old only needs to make up four shots on Sunday to replicate that victory after mixing seven birdies with just two bogeys on Saturday to climb the leaderboard.

Lee shares third place with defending champion Brooke Henderson after the Canadian's 67.

“I felt like it was kind of coming together, so hopefully I can keep the momentum going for tomorrow,” Lee said on Saturday.

American World No.2 Nelly Korda is one stroke further back at six-under after charging into contention with a 64, the only round better than Lee's.

Chasing a third major in three years after also winning the 2022 U.S Women's Open, Lee offset two early birdies on Saturday with successive bogeys on the 5th and 6th holes.

She rebounded with back-to-back birdies on 7 and 8 and picked up further shots on the 12th, 15th and 18th holes to be right in the mix for major No.3.

“I feel like I've had something missing the first couple of days, and then today I still made two bogeys on 5 and 6 I think,” Lee said.

“I finished the front nine strong and then had a good back nine, so, yeah, I think it was – you could be a little bit more aggressive today just with the conditions, not much wind and obviously the 15th and the 18th being kind of reachable.”

Steph Kyriacou is the next best Australian in a tie for 30th after clawing her way back to even par for the championship with a three-under 68.