Australia's Rachel Teske moved into third place after an early birdie before torrential rain forced the suspension of the third round at the McDonald's LPGA Championship at DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Delaware.

Teske, in fourth place and five shots behind leader Annika Sorenstam overnight, holed from 12 feet for a three at the par four second, and was just three behind Sorenstam and South Korea's Hee Won-Han when play was stopped after just one more hole.

Sweden's Sorenstam had led by two shots from Han on eight under 134 overnight after a brilliant second round 64, and also only managed three holes before the weather turned nasty.

But it wasn't the best of starts for the world No. 1 as she was pegged back into a share of the lead with the young South Korean. Han opened with a birdie from four feet while Sorenstam three-putted the second to fall back to seven under.

The plan is to complete the third and fourth rounds on Monday but the weather forecast is not favourable. There is a chance that the Championship could be cut to 54-holes, as was the case when Britain's Laura Davies won the title in 1996.

When play was suspended, Sorenstam and Han were on seven under, with Teske on four under and American Wendy Ward on two under.

Karrie Webb, the 2001 champion, dropped four shots in a disappointing outward half of 40 and was six over with nine to play while the other Australian positions in the championship were - Michelle Ellis (one over after seven), Jan Stephenson (two over after nine), Joanne Mills (two over after five), Wendy Doolan (four over after four), Jane Crafter (seven over after seven) and Fiona Pike (seven over after five).

"It's frustrating when there is a delay and it will be shame if we are cut to three rounds for a major championship," said Teske. "But the course was already very wet and muddy and it's going to be a tough task to get 36 holes in tomorrow."

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