Paradise Island, Bahamas (SportsNetwork.com) - Gerina Piller moved to 10-under par on Saturday and she was alone atop the leaderboard when the third round of the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic was suspended due to darkness.
Piller was 3-under par after nine holes on the Ocean Club Golf Course at Atlantis Resort and was one stroke clear of the field.
Lexi Thompson headlines a group of six players tied for second at minus-9. Thompson soared into a share of second as she was 7-under par through 16 holes. She was joined there by Perrine Delacour, Kelly Shon, Sandra Gal, Sei Young Kim and Brooke Pancake.
Stacy Lewis, who was paired with Thompson, was 6-under par through 15 holes. She chose not to putt out on the seventh green after the horn blew to suspend play because of darkness.
Lewis was joined at minus-8 by Brittany Lincicome, Hee Young Park, Ariya Jutanugarn, Sun Young Yoo and Inbee Park.
The tournament has been trying to catch up since a storm on Thursday caused a long delay and pushed things back. The third round will resume on Sunday morning at 8 a.m. ET with the final round slated to begin at 9:38 a.m.
Piller, who was in the next-to-last group out off the first tee, birdied the second to move to 8-under. She carded four pars in a row from the third to remain there.
The 29-year-old converted back-to-back birdie efforts at seven and eight to jump into the lead at minus-10. Piller parred the ninth before play was called for the day.
"I was a little nervous on the first tee, but I felt fine," Piller said. "The wind could switch at any second, it can gust, and that's really hard to deal with. I think I just have to stay steady with fairways and greens and two- putting."
Thompson played the back nine first and had one birdie and four pars in her first five holes. She poured in five consecutive birdies from the 15th to jump to minus-8. She birdied the fourth to grab a share of the lead and followed with three pars before play was halted.
"We were talking about that, we probably had the best golf going on today, we had so many birdies," said Thompson of the rounds her and playing partner Lewis were having. "The first two days we were striking it well, just didn't make that many putts, but today we were definitely feeding off each others birdies."
Delacour had five birdies and a bogey through 12 holes to reach minus-9. Shon was bogey-free through 10 holes with birdies at three, four and nine.
Gal birdied the first and fourth to go with seven pars in the nine holes she completed. Kim had six pars and a birdie in her seven holes. Pancake, who led after the first round, stumbled to a bogey at the third. She came back with birdies at four and six to get to minus-9.
NOTES: Six players finished their rounds with Amelia Lewis, Minjee Lee and Ai Miyazato, who all shot 3-under 69 in round three, tied for the clubhouse lead at 6-under-par 213 ... The second round was completed earlier Saturday ... Na Yeon Choi, Michelle Wie and Mo Martin were among those that missed the cut, which fell at 1-over-par 147.
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