Anna Nordqvist had four birdies on the nine opening holes on the Aronimink course outside Philadelphia.
She had every opportunity to be in the lead before the final round in this year's third major, but a weaker finish meant that this did not happen.
On the final nine holes, 33-year-old Nordqvist even went one over par.
An annoying bogey on the 18th hole means that the Swede is now five strokes below par.
Nordqvist had only 11 of 18 green hits during the third round.
It is the Canadian Brooke M. Henderson who shares second place with Nordqvist and a stroke behind them is the South Korean star Inbee Park.
Before the third round, Linnea Ström was only one stroke behind Nordqvist, but she had a disaster day and went all eleven over par.
Ström is a total of nine over par and the other Swedes, Pernilla Lindberg and Madelene Sagström are five over.