Hannah rose 18 spots and into a tie for 11th on the back of the day’s best round of six-under 66, the highlight coming when she holed her seven-iron from 143m for eagle at the challenging par-four 17th.

After two days of frustration on the greens, Hannah showed why she is the number six player in the world on a day in which only 11 players broke 70.

Seeking to complete the Olympic set, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko shot four-under 68 on Friday to reach nine-under through 54 holes, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux making eagle on the par-5 18th to equal that mark with a round of one-under 71.

They sit two shots clear of American Rose Zhang (67) and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita (68) with a further shot to Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul (69) at 6-under and Colombian Mariajo Uribe (71) sixth at five-under.

Hannah had five birdies and the eagle on 17 to play the back nine in six-under on Friday and is now just four strokes back of medal calculations and with momentum on her side.

“I believed in myself that I could win and have a podium finish,” Hannah said.

“Now I’ve put myself in a good position to be able to do that with one more round to go.

“I wanted to do so well and Round 1 just felt like I threw everything out the window. But I knew that once it got tougher that would kind of suit me.”

With just one birdie to her name over the first 33 holes, Hannah needed to see putts drop early to make her move in round three.

Chances at both the par-three second and par-five third eluded her but when the 27-year-old rolled in a putt from 25 feet at the par-four sixth, the floodgates opened.

She two-putted from just outside 50 feet at the par-five ninth for birdie and added two more at 10 and 11, the hole suddenly looking a whole lot bigger than it had the first two days.

A good bogey on 15 after hitting her second shot into the water was followed by an excellent two-putt for par at the par-three 16th, the eagle-birdie finish putting her just outside the top 10 with one round to play.

“I was in between clubs but decided to go with a longer club and cut it into the wind,” said Hannah, of her spectacular shot on 17.

“It landed maybe five metres short and then obviously rolled in.

“I haven’t holed out from quite a distance in a long time so felt nice to not have to get the putter out.”

Minjee could have also been right in the medal hunt if not for a costly miss late her in round.

Two-under on her round after birdies at five, nine and 15, Minjee hit her tee shot on 16 into the water and made double-bogey.

A brilliant second shot to 15 feet at the par-five 18th set up a closing birdie but, at nine shots back, has probably left her with too much ground to make up in the final round.

“I need to really post a score early,” Minjee said.

“I need to start well. I need to make a few birdies straight off the bat, and it’s quite tough with the first and second hole with so much water and a little bit of the breeze there.

“Hopefully it’s set up so we can make a lot of birdies.

“Looking forward to tomorrow and leaving everything out there.”

A sell-out crowd of close to 30,000 is expected for the final day of golf competition for Paris 2024.

Minjee tees off at 7:17pm AEST with Hannah to follow at 8:06pm AEST in the fourth-to-last group.