Michelle Wie raised hopes of clinching a long-awaited first victory on the LPGA Tour with another stellar round on Saturday but cancelled out all her good work after being disqualified for a scorecard violation.
Wie finished the third round of the State Farm Classic alone in second place but saw all her hard work undone when an elementary error came back to haunt her.
Wie failed to sign her scorecard after Friday's second round but the LPGA did not hear of the violation until she had already started her third round. Wie fired a five-under-par 67 and was one stroke behind Yani Tseng before the LPGA made the ruling to disqualify her.
Wie was having by far her best tournament of the year. She opened with a five-under 67 and followed with rounds of 65 and 67, but will not have a chance to track down Tseng on Sunday.
The 18-year-old who has endured a major slump since breaking her wrist last year, carded seven birdies to move to 17-under 199 through 54 holes. The Hawaiian was one shot behind Taiwan's Yani Tseng, who won last month's major at the McDonald's LPGA Championship.
Tseng signed for a 66, while American Katie Futcher also had a 66 to get to 16-under. Hee Won Han, with a tournament-best 61, and fellow-South Korean Ji Young Oh, who shot 69, are three strokes back at 15-under.
Tseng had four birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round.
"Winning the LPGA Championships has given me a lot of confidence," she said. "Now I go out knowing I can win."
Starting the day one shot out of the lead, Wie moved ahead when she birdied the first two holes and she made another at the sixth before dropping only her second shot of the tournament at the seventh.
Wie then made a real move with four birdies in a row from the turn in a back nine of 32.
"It was another solid round and I'm just going to go out and try and shoot even lower tomorrow," Wie said before learning of her disqualification.
"It was a bit disappointing not to birdie the long 16th and then to drop one at the last. But I'm really excited about tomorrow."
Wie had seven top-10 finishes in majors between 2003 and 2006, but her highest finish in the last two seasons on the LPGA Tour was a tie for 24th in last month's Wegmans tournament in Rochester, New York. She finished sixth in last month's German Open on the Ladies' European Tour.
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