RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif., March 29 (UPI) -- France's Patricia Meunier-Lebouc grabbed a three-shot lead after the third round of the Nabisco Championship Saturday, but it could have been larger if not for some late-round stumbles.
Meunier-Lebouc bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes to complete a 2-under-par 70 and extend her advantage over Swedish superstar Annika Sorenstam at the first major of the LPGA Tour season.
Trying to become the first LPGA player to win the same major championship three years in a row, Sorenstam also struggled late and failed to make up ground with a 1-under 71.
The story of the day at the Mission Hills Country Club was 13-year-old Hawaiian Michelle Wie, who fired a 6-under 66 to match the best round by an amateur at a major in the history of the women's tour.
Wie, a middle school student, climbed within four shots of the lead with a bogey-free round that ended with seven straight pars.
England's Laura Davies and Korea's Se Ri Pak were tied at 2-under 214, one shot ahead of Hall of Famer Juli Inkster and Mexico's Lorena Ochoa, the only other players under par.
