Free-rolling Jason Day and Scott Hend have led an exciting Australian charge during the third round of the British Open at Royal Birkdale.
Enjoying some rare sunshine and fine scoring conditions, Day and Hend posted sizzling five-under-par 65s to storm back to even par for the championship and claim a share of the clubhouse lead.
South African Shaun Norris also carded an equal tournament-best 65 as the world's elite golfers set their sights on American frontrunner Jordan Spieth.
"This is a good formula to see, maybe the first 62 in a major championship," Day said after his bogey-free round.
"The conditions are perfect. I mean, the greens are rolling pure."
Day, Hend and Norris were six in arrears of Spieth, who was due to tee off just before 1am Sunday (AEST) holding a two-stroke advantage over fellow American Matt Kuchar.
Day made his first birdie on the second before reaching the par-5 fifth in two and safely two-putting to progress to two-under for his round.
He was unlucky not to be even closer to par, with birdie attempts on the seventh and eighth shaving the hole.
Striking his irons crisply, he drained a four-metre putt on the ninth to give himself a glimmer of hope at the turn.
More birdies on the 10th and 15th suddenly had Day back in the tournament after his late implosion on Friday, when the world No.6 dropped five shots in his last three holes in a horror 76.
"I drove it much better, I hit a lot of good iron shots and I holed putts. It's a lot more fun today," Day said.
"A lot of people with a lot of smiles walking off today - a golf course like today, not like yesterday - or not like what I was yesterday.
"I honestly thought I missed the cut. That's why I stormed off."
Hend embarked on a back-nine birdie blitz that had Birkdale abuzz, picking up five shots in five holes from the 13th after admitting he too thought he had missed the halfway cut on Friday.
Playing partner and fellow Australian Marc Leishman also got in on the act, with two birdies and an eagle on the par-5 17th to climb to one over for the tournament with a four-under 66.
Adam Scott had looked Australia's only remote hope after brutal winds on Friday blew most of the 11-strong contingent off the course.
A hard-earned four-over-par 74 in beastly conditions left the former world No.1 playing catch-up at three-over.
He was one ahead of Open rookie Andrew Dodt (75) and two clear of Day, Leishman and Aaron Baddeley after the second round.
But he was unable to get anything going on Saturday, Scott notching nine straight pars on his way out to remain nine shots behind Spieth.
Adam Bland (75-72) and Matthew Griffin (70-77) missed the cut by two shots.
Major championship debutant Ryan McCarthy (76-72) also failed to secure weekend action, as did Cameron Smith (74-75) and Ashley Hall (75-74).
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