Paula Reto carded a five-under-par 67 on Saturday to climb within one stroke of the lead after the third round of the LPGA Tour’s AmazingCre Portland Classic in Oregon.

Reto went bogey-free with five birdies to move to 12-under-par for the tournament. The lead was shared by Americans Andrea Lee and Lilia Vi, together with Japan’s Ayake Furue. Reto shared fourth with Hinako Shibuno of Japan, Daniela Darquea of Ecuador and Australia’s Hannah Green.

Reto’s putting was sublime on the front nine as she made four birdies, but things went a bit quiet with the flat stick with just one more gain on her way home. “My putter was pretty good the first nine; made a couple good ones,” she said. “The second nine sort of slowed down; a little bit of speed issues with my lines. But I’m just going to keep working on it and hopefully tomorrow more will drop.”

Good putting requires good course management to set up opportunities, and that’s something that has characterised Reto’s game this season. “My caddie does a good job with helping me, and he knows my shot shape,” she said. “If the pin is on the left, I try and go a little bit more right. If the pin is opposite, I try to go to the other side just because everything is a little bit firmer with the chips and you need a little bit more room to run the ball out. Just giving myself opportunities, I feel like for me today was key. Just see lines, make putts, that kind of thing. I don’t think about it too much.”

She had 26 putts in round two, and 28 in the third round, so that’s part of her game that can get her in contention in the final round. “Tomorrow, it’s a question of just giving myself more opportunities,” she said. “Same thing, good opportunities and just see my line and trust it. You know, I was a little bit tentative today, but I need to make sure to get the ball to the hole and don’t leave them short.”