After reaching the 12^th hole in one-over-par on Saturday, Paula Reto made four birdies in the final six holes to card a three-under 68 in the third round of the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, Haute-Savoie, France.

It’s been a good championship so far for the South African, as her finish saw her climb 13 places on the leaderboard into a share of 22^nd on a total of five-under-par through 54 holes. She is the sole remaining South African in the field after Ashleigh Buhai withdrew during the first round with her broken toe still not completely healed.

Reto had started her third round well with birdies on two and three. But she dropped shots on six, eight and 12, before her run for home was ignited with a birdie on 13. She followed that with birdies on 15, 17 and 18, and she heads into the final round nine strokes off the lead.

Australian Stephanie Kyriacou edged a stroke ahead of Japan’s Ayaka Furue and Lauren Coughlin of the United States with a birdie on the final hole. She fired a 67 in hot and sunny conditions at Evian Resort Golf Club for a 54-hole total of 14-under-par.

The two-time Ladies European Tour winner began her third round two strokes behind Furue and the Japanese player had built a three-stroke lead after eight holes, but Kyriacou rallied on the back nine and the pair duelled for the lead, until Coughlin set the clubhouse target at 13-under with an eagle on 18 – her second of the day after another on hole nine.

Kyriacou went out in 34 after making a bogey on the first, followed by three consecutive birdies and another dropped shot on the sixth, but hit back-to-back birdies on the 10^th and 11^th, where there was a two-shot swing as Furue made her first bogey of the tournament.

Furue birdied the 12^th to win back her advantage, but then found the rough and made her second bogey on 13. Kyriacou birdied the long 15^th but then three-putted the short 16^th.

She made a tricky downhill birdie putt from seven feet on the last to take the outright lead and said afterwards: “The more you play this course, the more you figure out the tips and tricks. Like, you’re never going to get a flat lie, using the slopes on the green, sticking to one shot at a time.

“I’m very excited to sleep on the lead. It was a great day. Definitely a long day, but lots of good things happened. Good momentum into tomorrow, so, yeah, after a good sleep I think I’ll be ready.

“Same as the last three days: One shot at a time. Try not to get ahead of myself. Obviously I know I’m in the lead, so that’s nice. I don’t think I’ve been in contention in a major before, so it’s exciting.

“I mean, obviously I want to win; so do the other girls. But I think for myself personally, when I want something too much I kind of start to try and force things, so I’m probably going to stay back a bit from that. You know, that seems to work for me. I’m very chatty on the course and stuff, so just staying like how I play my best and not trying to do things just because of the situation I’m in.”