Monday 16 May 2016 00:18, UK
Jason Day survived a brutal test provided by Sawgrass as he ended a high-scoring third day of The Players Championship with a four-stroke lead.
Day set a new tournament record for the lowest 36-hole score at 15 under when he completed a flawless second-round 66 early on Saturday morning, but the Stadium Course fought back as firmer and faster conditions saw the average score soar to over 76.
Hideki Matsuyama (67) and Ken Duke (65) appeared to be playing a different course as they vaulted into a share of second on 10 under, but the conditions got the better of Rory McIlroy as he plummeted to five under, dropping three shots in four holes after the turn followed by a double-bogey at the 15th in a disappointing 75.
Day had not dropped a shot in the first half of golf's fifth major, but he three-putted the third green and took four putts to get down at the sixth as the resulting double-bogey saw his lead down to a single shot.
The world No 1 responded by knocking his approach to the seventh to tap-in range, but he ran up another double-bogey at the next when he pulled his tee-shot into a bunker and knifed his escape over the green before holing from six feet to limit the damage to a five.
But his lead was back to three shots by the turn when he rolled in a 10-footer for birdie at the long ninth, and a superb up and down from a greenside trap at the 11th got him back to 13 under for the week.
Day looked certain to open the door for the field when he got into trouble off the tee at the 15th and failed to hit the green with his third, but he slammed it shut as he pitched in to save par and a sublime 200-yard eight-iron to the 16th led to his fourth birdie of the day.
The Australian holed another clutch par putt from 10 feet at the 17th, and a cast-iron par at the last completed a battling 73 that kept him in pole position to win his seventh PGA Tour title in his last 17 starts.
Matsuyama defied the tough set-up to make the first significant move of the day when he birdied the first three holes, and he rattled off another three in a row to start the back nine before parring safely in to take the clubhouse lead on 10 under par.
But he soon had company after an astonishing late charge from Duke, who teed off at the 10th and was one under for his round through 11 holes before storming up the leaderboard with five consecutive birdies from the third, and another at the ninth capped a front-nine 30 and a best-of-the-day 65.
Alex Cejka birdied two of the last three holes to salvage a commendable 72 and make it a three-way tie for second, while Francesco Molinari finished birdie-bogey to close on nine under.
Shane Lowry, playing in the final group alongside Day and Jonas Blixt, endured a horrific start as he bogeyed the first, second and fourth while stuttering to a double-bogey at the third.
The Irishman steadied himself with a solid run of pars and he clawed a shot back at the 11th, but further dropped shots at the 14th and 18th added up to a 78 and dropped him to five under alongside McIlroy.
The world No 3 looked set to make a charge when he rolled in a confident 10-foot putt for an opening birdie, but he carelessly three-putted the fourth - pulling his tap-in for par from a foot - before atoning with another birdie at seven.
But his challenge unravelled after the turn as McIlroy three-putted the 10th, 12th and 13th greens, and he needed four shots just to find the putting surfaced at 15 as he slipped to four over for the round before a birdie at 16 gave him an extra few minutes' lie-in for Sunday morning.
