Late stumble hurts Day at Memorial

World No.1 Jason Day has made a run at the leaders before a late stumble in the third round of the US PGA Memorial tournament.

Jason Day was left to rue a final-hole double bogey but still believes he can claim the US PGA tour's Memorial Tournament.

Australia's world No.1 fired a four-under-par 68 in the third round to move to 11 under par for the tournament at Muirfield Village, now sitting three shots off the lead.

But while he's played poorly at the course in the past, despite holding membership, Day is determined to keep his recent hot form running on Sunday.

American Matt Kuchar, the 2013 winner, and countrymen William McGirt and Gary Woodland took the lead at 14-under-202.

McGirt fired an impressive 64, Woodland had a 69, while Kuchar rode a rollercoaster on the way to a 70.

Big-hitting American Dustin Johnson (68), countryman Jon Curran (68), Canadian Adam Hadwin (67) and Argentinean rookie Emiliano Grillo (70) share fourth at 13 under.

Coming into the event, Day had claimed seven wins in his last 17 starts including success at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship on courses he has notoriously struggled.

With three missed cuts from seven starts, Day's previous best finish at Muirfield is 27th.

Now he's looking to smash another hoodoo.

"I'm just trying to prove to myself that I can play around golf courses that I haven't typically played well in the past," Day admitted.

"I'm going to try and go with into tomorrow's round with that mentality that I can do it. Hopefully, that's enough."

After an early bogey on Saturday, Day rattled off seven birdies to rocket up the boards and a great approach to the 17th left him with a seven-foot birdie putt to join the lead.

But he overplayed the break and missed the putt and then made a mess of the last with a double bogey.

His approach to the elevated green stayed up on a bank, unluckily resting against its pitch mark, and Day's attempted chip came out heavy, eventually rolling back off the green and all the way back down the hill.

"It wasn't the best finish but at the start of the day if you said you're going to shoot a 68, I would have taken it, definitely," Day said.

"There are a lot of positives going into tomorrow. If I can play some good golf, that could shoot me back into contention and hopefully I win the tournament."

World No.3 Rory McIlroy (70) is nine under while No.2 Jordan Spieth struggled to a 74 to be four under.

John Senden (68), Geoff Ogilvy (70) and Matt Jones (68) moved to nine under.

Teenager Ryan Ruffels (70) sits in decent position in a tie for 29th at eight under knowing he needs to stay around the top 30 to set himself up for the secondary tour finals later in the year.

Marc Leishman (69) finished at seven under and Rod Pampling (73) rounds out the Australians at one under.


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Source: AAP



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