Michelle Wie studies her shot at the second hole during the Evian Masters women's golf tournament on Saturday. Claude Paris | Associated Press

The 47-year-old Inkster finished at 6-under 210 on a tough day for scoring because of swirling winds, tricky flag positions and difficult greens. Only seven players broke par.

"I played very well," Inkster said, who won in 2003. "I'm driving the ball well, I hit good irons and good wedges and I'm putting good."

Jang Jeong of South Korea is second after a 72, followed another shot back by Sophie Gustafson of Sweden (72), Shin Ji-yai of South Korea (70) and Diana D'Alessio of the United States (76).

Wie had the worst round of the day, shooting 12-over par to languish in 69th place. She had four double bogeys, five bogeys and one birdie in her round.

"It was frustrating," Wie said. "My body would not do what my mind was telling it to do. I felt a little out of whack today."

Wie, who is recovering from wrist injuries, shot a 71 on Friday. She had gone 24 consecutive rounds without breaking par.

"That is what happens when you recover, you have some bad days and you have some good days," she said. "But I'm still going to take some positives out if and work on it tomorrow. It was a very unfortunate round."

Inkster had five birdies and two bogeys. She needed only 26 putts, and credited her confidence on the greens to a recent putting lesson.

Inkster laid up at the 18th hole with water in front of the green and hit a sand wedge to 3 feet for a birdie.

"If it was Sunday and I was behind by one, I'd go for it, but it was too risky a shot for Saturday," Inkster said.

The 84th-ranked D'Alessio shared the overnight lead by three strokes with Jin-joo Hong. D'Alessio was leading the tournament at 8 under at the turn before she had a quadruple bogey at the 12th.

"What a nightmare," D'Alessio said. "I was cruising along then it was: 'Welcome to reality.' The 12th was a comedy of errors ending with a four-putt.