Day survives Rd. 3 to hold 4-shot lead at Players

9:00 PM ET

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Jason Day set the 36-hole record at the Players Championship on Saturday morning. By the end of a long and laborious day of big numbers, he was hanging on by the seat of his pants on a TPC Sawgrass that was as frightening as ever.

Through it all, one aspect never changed: Day is in charge, and it looks like he will be tough to beat.

On a vastly different golf course with greens that were like putting on glass compared with the previous two rounds, Day overcame two double-bogeys with a strong back nine for a 1-over 73 to maintain his four-shot lead.

But what a wild ride.

Day four-putted from 18 feet for a double-bogey and made another double-bogey when he blasted out of sand across the green into deep rough as his lead shrunk to one shot. From there, the world’s No. 1 player played 3 under with no bogeys over the final 10 holes to restore some semblance of order.

He was at 14-under 202. Any thoughts of adding to the record book were gone. But when a shootout turned into survival, all that mattered was the lead.

Ken Duke turned in the best round of the tournament by making six birdies over his last seven holes for a 65, more than 10 shots better than the average score. He was four shots behind, along with Hideki Matsuyama (67) and Alex Cejka (72).

“I’m just a player on the PGA Tour,” Duke said. “They’re all good out here, and when you get some good numbers and make some good putts, the scores are there. … But it was a great round. This golf course is very difficult with this condition, and it was a really unbelievable round.”

As tough as the greens …

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