ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela has a good chance of being selected as captain of the Solheim Cup at the AIG Women’s Open this week.

After opening with two 74s on the Old Course, the 26-year-old played superbly on Moving Day, shooting a bogey-free 66 (6 under par) to jump from T60 to T10 with 18 holes still to play at the Home of Golf.

The three-time Olympian hit the jackpot on Saturday morning, quickly picking up birdies on the first and third holes to get back to 2 over par for the tournament. She struck again on the par-5 fifth hole and then picked up another birdie on the par-4 seventh hole to finally get back to par at 32.

Valenzuela lost some of his momentum on the back nine holes, but still managed two birdies on holes 10 and 14 to move into the red for the tournament. He shot a 66 to climb to 2 under par overall and is just five strokes behind 54-hole leader Jiyai Shin.

“Very pleased. The lighter wind was definitely an advantage in the morning, so I just tried to take advantage of that and play good golf,” Valenzuela said. “The last two days I’ve actually been hitting the ball really well and just not putting well. But I think with the wind it was so hard to judge distances. I felt like the game was going well and just tried to do my best today.”

While the 66 is her lowest round on the LPGA Tour since she also shot a 66 on the second day of the Amundi Evian Championship, her impressive play on Saturday has a little more impact than just putting her in position to finish in the top five in Sunday’s final round.

Valenzuela is battling for a place on her first European Solheim Cup team and is currently an outsider in terms of both qualification via the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings and the European Solheim Cup points table.

The Swiss would need to win to have any chance of automatic qualification, but a strong performance in the presence of Solheim Cup European captain Suzann Pettersen at the Home of Golf could give her an edge as the Norwegian narrows down her four captain’s picks, which will be made on Monday. That fact has been on Valenzuela’s mind this week on the Old Course, and she will hope her play speaks for her as she tries to catch the leaders in the final round.

“Solheim is a big goal of mine, but I’m just out of the woods,” Valenzuela said. “I’m just trying to play good golf, and I told myself at the beginning of the year that good golf will come naturally. That’s all I can do. There are so many great European players. It’s super competitive being on this team. All I can do is try my best.”

If her best performance is another bogey-free 66, Valenzuela could finally move into the LPGA Tour winners’ circle at the Home of Golf. And while that’s probably a little out of reach with a five-shot deficit to make up, anything can happen in the final round of a major.

But at least Valenzuela will have one last chance to show Pettersen what she can do on Sunday at St. Andrews, and she must seize this opportunity.