American world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who held a four-shot overnight lead, sits at 15-under on Friday after 54 holes of the Olympic women's golf tournament, three strokes clear of Aditi Ashok of India.
Japan's Mone Inami and New Zealand's Lydia Ko, silver medalist at the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, are tied with two others for third five shots off the pace.
Nasa Hataoka of Japan shot a 4-under on the day to put herself in medal contention in seventh, two shots behind the players in the provisional bronze medal position.
"I wish I hadn't bogeyed the final hole. At least I improved my score so I hope to keep this going on the final day. Of course, I want a medal but wanting it is no reason to put pressure on myself," said Inami, who bogeyed the ninth and 18th holes en route to her 68.
Tournament leader Korda -- whose father is a tennis Grand Slam winner, older sister is a six-time LPGA Tour winner and younger brother won his maiden ATP tennis title in May -- had three early birdies and a bogey across the front at nine Kasumigaseki Country Club. She finished with 10 straight pars to shoot a 69.
The 23-year-old Korda is also a six-time winner on tour and is taking part in her first Olympics. She won her first major at the Women's PGA Championship in June.
Hataoka shot six birdies and two bogeys for a 67, her best score of the week, but she has not been happy with the standard of her play in her first Olympics.
"I'm glad I did the bare minimum of moving up the leaderboard," said Hataoka, who advanced four places.
"To be honest, I haven't been able to play my kind of game for three days. (For the final round) I'm not going to set a target but I'll have to improve my score, one shot at a time."
Yuka Saso became an instant favorite to win a medal in Tokyo after her U.S. Women's Open win in June, but the Filipino-Japanese golfer who is representing the Philippines will need a miracle to contend for gold after carding a 67 to move into a tie for 20th at 4-under.
A second Olympic gold is looking unlikely for Rio Games champion Park In Bee who is at 3-under for the tournament after rounds of 69, 70 and 71. Rio bronze winner Feng Shanshan of China is eight behind Korda.
On Wednesday, American Lexi Thompson's caddie stepped aside due to the extreme heat in the city to Tokyo's northwest, while Saso's caddie was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday suffering heatstroke.
Due to high forecast temperatures, the third round began earlier on Friday, at 7:30 a.m., played from a two-tee start on holes one and 10. Currently, organizers plan to do the same for Saturday's final round but starting even earlier at 6:30 a.m.
