NORTON — On a day when most of the top leaders managed to improve their scores, Allisen Corpuz’s third round at the FM Championship featured a slight drift in the wrong direction.
Corpuz began Saturday tied for the lead, neck and neck with Hyo Joo Kim at 9 under.
Her 2-over day, however, left her in a six-way tie for sixth place at 7-under 209, three shots behind.
Moments after parring the 18th to complete her day, the 28-year-old who won the 2023 US Women’s Open could not have been more collected and calm.
“Just a tough one — not my best, but I mean, I hung in there and hopefully I’ll just go and throw up a low one tomorrow,” said Corpuz.
All was fine through the first five holes where she stayed at par but bogeys on Nos. 6 and 8 began the tough part of her day.
She managed birdies on Nos. 9 and 12, but a double bogey on the 14th, with her putt for bogey falling just short of the hole, typified her day. She birdied the par-3 16th hole, then missed a birdie putt on 17 by 3 feet.
Corpuz didn’t sound as if her putting needed singling out as to what was frustrating.
“I’d say it was just kind of everything, I just couldn’t hit it quite as close as I have been the last few days,” said Corpuz, who had a bogey-free second round. “I kind of struggled a bit with the speed and yeah, I didn’t get as many to drop.”
She focused on the positives heading into Sunday’s final round.
“I still hit a lot of really good shots and made a few good birdie putts coming in,” said Corpuz. “I’ll just be good tomorrow and keep hitting it solid.”
An shoots low round
Narin An and No. 1 Nelly Korda, each at even-par beginning the day, were in the third group to tee off Saturday morning.
An wound up having the kind of day Korda and her pack of fans were hoping the star would.
Her bogey-free 6-under effort was the low round of the day.
Korda birdied the 18th for her third consecutive even-par round. Over the three days she has recorded one eagle and one double bogey with 10 birdies and 10 bogeys.
Korda patiently delivered her autograph to each member of the throng of fans lined up in the small gallery space behind the 18th green.
So did An, though she dealt with a line, not a throng.
Fan favorite
Rockland’s Megan Khang sank a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th to get to 4 under going into the final day. She began the day at 2 under.
When the putt dropped, her omnipresent cheering section of family friends hanging over the railing in the FM suite behind the hole went a little nuts. That prompted a smile from Khang and then a quick “cool it” gesture since Anna Nordqvist had yet to finish her day. Nordqvist’s putt for par lipped out, giving Nordqvist her second bogey of the day. Nordqvist, who is retiring, enters the final day of her final tournament at 1 under.
Steady round for Guseva
Nataliya Guseva began the day in a two-way tie for third place at 7 under. That’s exactly where she finished, on the steadiest of days when she had just one birdie and one bogey. Guseva lives in Miami and hails from Russia. Because the LPGA follows International Olympic Committee protocols when it comes to Russian athletes being allowed to play under their national flag, Guseva is officially playing with unaffiliated citizenship. While every other player has their national flag next to their picture on the LPGA’s website, Guseva sports a blank white rectangle next to hers . . . Because of higher-than-expected turnout, the tournament added overflow parking for general admission fans at a nearby elementary school, J.C. Solmonese. If the turnout is heavy again on Sunday, the parking area will likely be put to use. Keep an eye on the @fmchamp instagram account for updates.
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.