Women's British Open 2006

Two-time champion Sherri Steinhauer made a 50-foot eagle putt and shot a 6-under 66 Saturday for a three-stroke lead after the third round of the Women's British Open.

Steinhauer, who had an eagle and four birdies, finished at 7-under 209. Tied for second were overnight leader Juli Inkster (74), Lorena Ochoa (65), 2000 British Open champion Sophie Gustafson (69) and 2004 winner Karen Stupples (70).

Michelle Wie, penalized two stroke on Friday for making contact with a piece of moss behind her ball, shot even-par 72 to stay at 4 over. She trails Steinhauer by 11 strokes. Annika Sorenstam, who won the event in 2003, was seven strokes back after she shot a 1-over 73.

Inkster, at 46, is trying to become the oldest LPGA player to win a major.

Her three-shot overnight lead was cut to two when she started her round, but she birdied the first hole. Then double bogeys at No. 7 and No. 10 wiped out her lead. She bogeyed the last hole after her second shot landed in a greenside bunker and finished at 2 over.

Steinhauer, who won British Open titles in 1998 and 1999 before it was a major, has won four other tournaments on the LPGA Tour, including the du Maurier Classic in 1992 when it was a major.

Starting the day five strokes behind Inkster, she made her charge from the 11th by picking up five shots in six holes. She nearly made a 20-foot birdie putt at 17 which would have put her four ahead.

Wie blamed her iron play for her failure to break par for the sixth round in a row in a major.

"I'm not making birdies," she said. "That's the bottom line. I'm playing well. My scores aren't coming through. It's very frustrating when I play. But I feel it's all going to come down tomorrow."

Ochoa carded the best round of the tournament. She started and finished with birdies and had five more in between without a single bogey to move to a three-round total of 212.

Apart from a tap-in at the eighth, she had birdie putts in the range of 10-to-17 feet. When she came off the 18th, she was tied for the lead before Steinhauer made her charge.

Ochoa said her play is influencing the popularity of the game in Mexico.

"Before, they didn't know much about golf," she said. "Now they see Lorena Ochoa and they follow what I do. I do this for my country. I love my country and I hope, when they wake up, they watch what I do and they will be happy."