A Lim Kim had her “A” game going again Friday at Hoakalei Country Club.

This time it included an ace.

Kim’s hole-in-one on No.9 highlighted a 5-under-par 67 that put her at 14 under after three rounds of the LPGA Lotte Championship.

It propelled Kim from a four-way tie for the lead starting the day to a one-shot lead ahead of Nataliya Guseva going into today’s final round.

“Just lucky,” Kim said of the hole-in-one, her second in tournament play. “Those are 99% lucky.”

Good fortune or not, it accounted for two strokes that mattered a lot. Competition was fierce as a tight leaderboard jostled early — the second round ended in a four-way tie for the lead with plenty of other golfers in range to climb into contention.

Two other strokes better than par were just as crucial as the ace, maybe even more for Kim,. Two birdies to finish the round gave her the lead. On Thursday, bogeys on her last two holes dropped her back into the four-player deadlock.

On Friday she turned in a scorecard with fewer pars than other scores, good and bad. It might suggest an erratic game, but it’s the opposite, because Kim doesn’t let what happens on one hole affect her on the next.

“Same,” said the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open winner. “Yeah. I make some double (bogeys), I made some triple, I make some birdie, same thing. Yeah, focus on my line and then hit it. That’s all.”

There were no doubles and triples Friday for Kim, just three bogeys and six birdies to go with the ace.

Guseva, a rookie from Russia and the University of Miami, was also among the four leaders to start the day. Even after Kim’s ace, Guseva was atop the leaderboard — usually alone — for most of the back nine. But her only bogey, at No. 17, opened the door for Kim to catch and pass her at the end of the round.

Ryann O’Toole played herself into the hunt with a 69 that put her three off the lead at 11 under. She was tied for fourth with Ruixin Liu, three shots behind Guseva, in the early going. While others faltered, O’Toole kept pace, and had climbed to 11 under after 16 holes.

Jin Young Ko shot 67 to start today in fourth at 10 under, tied with Auston Kim and Yuri Yoshida. She gave herself an outside chance at extending the longest ongoing streak of seasons with at least one victory on the LPGA Tour. Ko has won in each of the past seven years.

Auston Kim shot 5 under in her first 11 holes Friday, putting her just a stroke behind Guseva and the lead, and tied with A Lim Kim, who carded three birdies and a bogey on her first five holes.

Auston Kim continued to battle with the leaders, until she double-bogeyed on No. 15, missing two short putts on the par-3.

The rest of the back nine had a match-play feel to it, even though Guseva and A Lim Kim were in different groups.

“I noticed it a couple times,” said Guseva, who played in her first final group as a pro. “I heard a little bit of claps but didn’t bother me. I knew that there is going to be someone out there chasing a win as well.”

Neither player was fazed by A Lim Kim’s ace. Guseva birdied the same hole a few minutes later to regain a tie with her, and so it went on the back nine — sometimes Guseva held the lead by herself, others Kim was tied with her.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Guseva said. “We’re just trying to put the show out here and make (it) fun.”

The three players who started the day tied for the lead with A Lim Kim — Liu, Guseva and Yoshida —were all deadlocked for the lead, along with Auston Kim, midway through the front nine.

Liu was done in by a double-bogey on the par-5 No. 11 and finished with a 75 that puts her T15 at 6 under.

Yoshida fell back with bogeys at the seventh and 10th holes, but recovered to get back to 10 under.

Defending champion Grace Kim made a strong early move, shooting 3 under par on the front to place her 3 off the pace and tied for eighth. She finished with a 68, and at 8 under for the event.

Another former Lotte winner, Hyo Joo Kim, was also 7 under at the turn. She enters today T11 at 7 under.

Two-time Lotte winner Brooke Henderson was even for the day and at 3 under par for the tournament.

Malia Nam shot a 1-over 73 that included two double bogeys within four holes of each other. The Kaiser High alumna bounced back and closed with birdies on two of the last three holes. She enters today’s final round at 1 over for the event.

Angela Stanford enters what may be her final round as a full-time LPGA Tour pro today at 4 under for the tournament. She birdied four holes and bogeyed one on her way to a third-round 69.