Sunday 5 June 2016 01:26, UK
Jason Day and Rory McIlroy need to produce something special if they are to contend for the Memorial title on Sunday as Jordan Spieth dropped out of contention on day three in Ohio.
The world's top three players were all within six shots of the lead at the halfway stage, and Day hauled himself firmly into the running as he recovered from a bogey at the second with four birdies over the next five holes.
Day picked up further shots at the 10th, 15th and 16th to get to 13 under and within a shot of the lead, but he closed with a double-bogey six at the last to take the gloss off a 68.
The Australian came up short with his approach and his ball came to rest on the slope in front of the green in a deep pitch mark. Day could not make good connection with his chip and his ball pitched on the front of the green before rolling back down the slope.
He over-corrected with his second attempt and two-putted to slip back to 11 under, four shots behind joint-leaders Emiliano Grillo and Matt Kuchar when play was suspended due to a heavy thunderstorm.
"It was just a little bit unlucky on the lie, I think," said Day when asked about his misfortune at the 18th. "It shouldn't have stayed there in the first place, halfway up the hill. It's already soft underneath it with a pitch mark behind.
"I just hit a little bit fat with the chip, trying to make sure that I got underneath it to put a little spin on it, and then just obviously clipped a bit of the pitch mark that was already up. But if, at the start of the day, they said you're going to shoot a 68, I would have taken it, definitely.
"I think I played pretty good. I hit a lot better than I did yesterday, and there's a lot of positives going into tomorrow. I did close the gap on that lead a little bit too, so that's a positive. And I'm pretty sure we're going to have some tough conditions. If I can play some good golf, that could shoot me back into contention and hopefully win the tournament."
The "mental errors" that McIlroy admitted he needed to avoid after his opening 71 appeared to creep back into his game on day three at Muirfield Village as he carded a 70 which promised to be so much better.
McIlroy made an encouraging start when he rolled in a 15-foot putt for birdie at the second, but he missed good chances at three of the next four holes and then made a mess of the par-five seventh, taking three to get down from the fringe to take a bogey-six.
He atoned with an 18-foot birdie putt at the next and converted a solid approach to 10 feet at the 10th, but a poor second from the fairway at the par-five 11th found water and cost him another dropped shot.
The world No 3 again bounced back with birdies at 14 and 15 and further chances went begging at the next two holes, and his frustration was evident at the last after he pulled his drive into the stream that runs alongside the left of the fairway.
McIlroy eventually did well to get up and down from short of the green to limit the damage to a bogey which left him on nine under par - six off the lead.
Spieth had got off the best start of the world's top three as he birdied the first and fourth but, like McIlroy, he also endured a bad day on the par-fives as he took six at both the fifth and seventh and compounded those mistakes with another bogey at eight.
His hopes of a back-nine charge were dampened when he missed a four-foot putt for par at the 10th, and a birdie at 15 was offset by his fifth dropped shot of the day at the next as he limped in with a 74 to close on four under.
