Players Championship 2016: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Saturday

Difficult course conditions led to significantly higher scores at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday, but world No. 1 Jason Day maintained his lead through three rounds of The Players Championship.

Day struggled to a one-over 73 in the third round after setting the 36-hole TPC Sawgrass record at 15 under par, but he’ll enter the final round with a four-stroke advantage over Hideki Matsuyama, Ken Duke and Alex Cejka:

Part of the field, including Day, had to finish the second round Saturday morning after play was suspended Friday. The Aussie was part of the final group to tee off in the third round, and he entered the round with a record-breaking lead, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

Jason Day began third round with 4-shot lead, the largest after 36 holes in Players Championship tournament history pic.twitter.com/g6byyYXj6j

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 14, 2016

Although Day didn’t play well in comparison to his opening 36 holes, the field was unable to close the gap thanks to the state of the course. In fact, just six golfers managed to card a score that was under par Saturday.

As ESPN.com’s Jason Sobel pointed out, TPC Sawgrass was in desperate need of precipitation, and it took a toll on the greens:

Not saying this course is baked out, but we now have an official tournament stat for browns in regulation.

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) May 14, 2016

Per Sobel, PGA Tour official Mark Russell suggested those in charge were surprised by how much the course changed from one day to the next:

PGA Tour official Mark Russell: “What happened was a perfect storm. Didn’t expect 20mph wind and humidity 30%. [Greens] just sped up on us.”

— Jason Sobel (@JasonSobelESPN) May 14, 2016

Day experienced the changes firsthand, as his putter went cold after carrying him to a remarkable score through the first two rounds.

The 2015 PGA Championship winner’s issues were evident on the sixth hole, as he four-putted for double bogey and nearly had to settle for a triple, as the PGA Tour showed:

Jason Day makes double bogey on the sixth. Barely. pic.twitter.com/adTngtEKtI

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2016

Despite his regression, Day was resilient throughout the round. He gained a stroke back on the seventh with a birdie, which he set up with an excellent approach, shown here by the PGA Tour:

Not a bad way to bounce back after a four-putt … https://t.co/gUi4PHez4Y

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 14, 2016

Another double bogey on the par-three eighth tested Day’s mettle again, but he was up to the task on the ninth with his second birdie of the round, as the PGA Tour showed:

Another bounce-back birdie for Jason Day. #QuickHits …

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