Playing what she reckoned to be her best golf in more than a decade, 40-year-old Kathryn Imrie moved into contention for the Ladies' Scottish Open with a two-under-par 69 that left her three behind the leader, Gwladys Nocera of France.

Imrie, who pioneered the Scottish assault on the LPGA Tour in the US by winning the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic all of 13 years ago, felt her game was getting back to that level, and was frustrated yesterday at missing several putts shorter than 10 feet.

"That was the worst I could have scored," said Imrie (formerly Marshall), who is based in California and has found her enthusiasm for playing golf renewed since coming under the coaching wing of Mike Mitchell, who also looks after former British Women's Open champion Sherri Steinhauer.

"Basically, he has given me belief," added the former Curtis and Solheim Cup player, who has been looking at alternative careers as a television commentator and coach. "My game has come on in leaps and bounds from a year ago, when I wasn't even planning on playing at all this year.

"I haven't won before on the Ladies European Tour and I'd love to do that, but the golfing gods will have to be with me tomorrow. Gwladys is a world-class player and I don't want to think about it too much, just do what I have been doing."

Originally from Monifieth, she knew she was in good form when she arrived in Scotland having been in contention in a mini-professional event on the Cactus Tour in Arizona, where she birdied five holes in a row to catch the leader before fading at the end.

Her 68 yesterday for a level-par aggregate of 142 left her in joint fifth place that gives her a chance of going that one step further than her best result on the LET when she lost in a play-off in Sweden in 1996.

Starting at the 10th, she believed she could have birdied her first five holes but did make three. Putts of around 15 feet did drop at the 15th and then fourth, the latter to save par, and her only blemish was a three-putt bogey at the eighth.

Imrie was one of six Scots, including amateur Kylie Walker, to qualify for today's final round, and Clare Queen, who represents the host Carrick on Loch Lomond course, was also in contention after a 71 yesterday for a one-over aggregate. After dropping shots at the sixth and 10th, she rallied with a 5-iron to six feet at the 12th and a wedge to a similar distance at the 13th, both for birdies.

"It was good to get those shots back and I am right in there," she said. "The weather forecast is not good for tomorrow, so that might help me. I am playing well. I just have to stay patient and get the breaks."

The defending champion, Sophie Gustafson, moved into a threatening position with a 67 to lie alongside Imrie, and the Swede and Nocera are likely to be the pair the Scots will have to beat. Nocera birdied the first and then, by her own admission, fell asleep only to be re-awakened by bogeys at the sixth and seventh.

"It was like Do something now' and after that I played really well," she said after birdies at the ninth and 13th and no more gremlins.

The 32-year-old from Biarritz, where she is put through her paces by the top rugby club's trainer, Olivier Rieg, resides in Lausanne and is unusual in that she prefers to play in Europe rather than the lucrative LPGA Tour in the US.

"Life is not about money," she replied when asked why she is turning her back on the riches on offer there. "My family and friends are not so far away and I can see them.

"I like America and, if I go there, it's to play with the best players in the world, not for the money."