RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Michelle Wie salvaged a ragged round with a birdie-birdie finish to remain among the leaders after the third round of an LPGA Tour sectional qualifying tournament today.

Wie's closing birdies gave her 2-over 74 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club, the home of the LPGA Tour's Kraft Nabisco Championship.

That left Wie at 7-under 209 entering Friday's final round. She was fourth and still comfortably inside the top 30 players and ties who will advance to the final qualifying tournament in Florida in December.

Wie again declined requests for interviews after the round.

South Korea's Sun-Ju Ahn and Anna Norqvist, a Swede who played at Arizona State, were tied for the lead at 12 under. Norqvist shot a third-round 67 with just one bogey, while Ahn had a 72 after opening the tournament with consecutive 66s.

Japan's Miki Saiki was 9 under after a 70.

Wie's was even par through seven holes. But she made a triple-bogey 6 on the eighth hole when her tee shot on the par 3 hooked left into trees and apparently lodged in the branches. After searching unsuccessfully for the ball, she again hit from the tee and the ball sailed into the trees, but this time it came out. She pitched on the green and two-putted.

Wie struggled with her tee shots throughout the round, hitting just six of 14 fairways and only one fairway on the back nine. But her short game kept her score lower than it might have been on the final nine, with just one bogey, on the par-4 12th.

She made a 3-foot birdie on the par-3 No. 17 and scrambled from behind a tree on the par-5 closing hole to make a 10-foot birdie.

Wie's threesome in the final round will include Stacy Lewis, who tied for third in the U.S. Women's Open this year. Lewis was 5 under after a 70.

The 30 players from this sectional and another 30 from tournament later this month will advance to the final 90-hole stage at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Dec. 3-7.

The top 40 finishers there earn playing cards, with the top 20 getting priority status, which allows them to enter a greater number of tournaments.

Wie's three-round total is 7-under 209.

Her playing partners, Sun-Ju Ahn and Anna Nordqvist, are tied for first at 12-under 204.

Ahn shot even-par 72 after successive rounds of 66. Nordqvist shot her second consecutive 67, the day's best round.

Miki Saiki shot 70 and is at 9-under 207, two shots ahead of Wie.

Baldwin High alum Shayna Miyajima, who entered the day tied for 27th, fell to a tie for 46th afer shooting a 76. Her three-round score is 222.