Two-under through two rounds of the LPGA’s first major of the year to lead the Aussie charge, Porter brought up memories of her stunning final round at the Australian Open with four consecutive birdies from the second to the fifth holes.

At 6-under, that had the 23-year-old knocking on the door of the top 10, yet it was a pace Porter was unable to maintain, dropping shots at seven, 10 and 13 to shoot 1-under 71 and end the day at 3-under.

On the back of a record-breaking first 36 holes, American Nelly Korda shot 2-under 70 in Round 3 and, at 16-under, will take a five-stroke lead from Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit (69) into the final round. Ruoning Yin (66) and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (67) are tied for third at 10-under.

A week after shooting 10-under 62 at Kooyonga, Porter closed with 6-under 66 at the Fortinet Founders Cup, so will be hoping for another fast finish at The Chevron.

Tied 40th in this championship 12 months ago in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, any finish better than that will represent the best finish in a major in Porter’s young career.

A four-time winner already this season, Hannah Green is the next best of the four Aussies to make the cut at 2-under and in a tie for 29th.

Like Porter, Green made a strong impression on the leaderboard through the front nine on Saturday.

After picking up a birdie at the par-3 second, Green gave it back shortly after at the par-4 fourth, yet rounded out the front nine with birdies at five, six and eight to turn in 3-under.

Finding the fairway as many times in Round 3 as she did the first two rounds, Green had opportunities on the back nine, but was unable to convert, making eight straight pars before making bogey at the par-4 17th in a round of 2-under 70.

Minjee Lee was 4-under through 10 holes of her third round, but made a bogey on 12 and a double-bogey on 15 to shoot 71. Gold Coast’s Karis Davidson is also at 1-over for the championship following a round of 2-over 74.

Round 3 Australasian scores
T20 Cassie Porter: 70-72-71 (213)
T2 Hannah Green: 73-71-70 (214)
T54 Minjee Lee: 74-72-71 (217)
T54 Karis Davidson: 71-72-74 (217)
MC Lydia Ko (NZ): 72-75 (147)
MC Robyn Choi: 73-75 (148)
MC Gabriela Ruffels: 78-74 (152)
MC Grace Kim: 75-77 (152)
MC Stephanie Kyriacou: 73-81 (154)