Jason Day bounced back after his wild second round at the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston today, but barring something crazy, he won’t be in the winner’s circle tomorrow.
Instead, the Australian focus will shift towards the back of the field with Marc Leishman in danger of having his season end after the final round.
Day, who carded an incredibly rare quadruple-bogey during his second-round 71, hit back with a fine 68 at TPC Boston to climb to T29 at four under.
But in terms of his victory chances, Day will need a miracle with his deficit to Paul Casey a whopping 11 strokes after Englishman carded his third successive round of five-under-par 66 to lead by three.
Adam Scott remains the best placed Aussie, but his third-round 70 left him at five under and in a share of 23rd.
Although Aaron Baddeley shot a 71 to sit at T56, the Australian focus tomorrow might well fall on his fellow Victorian Leishman, whose season will end unless he conjures something special.
Leishman fired four bogeys against just one birdie today to card a 74 that left him teetering at one over and T64. That position means he is projected to fall to 79th on the FedEx Cup rankings with only the top 70 advancing to the third stage of the BMW Championship later this week.
The maths is intricate and relies on others, but Leishman will likely need a round in the ballpark of 67 tomorrow to extend his campaign.