Jason Day is set to end his career-renaissance year with another big finish at the PGA Tour's Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Australia's former world No.1 shot a six-under-par 66 in Nassau on Saturday to be tied fourth behind leader and current world No.1 Scottie Scheffler entering the final round.
The 36-year-old Day rattled off seven birdies before stumbling with a bogey at the 16th to be six shots behind Scheffler (65), who leads by three at 16 under from England's Matt Fitzpatrick (65), with Justin Thomas (68) third at 11 under.
Wrapping up his 16th season on the PGA Tour, Day can reflect on a great 2023 as he continues to rebound from the injuries which have repeatedly interrupted his career.
After ending 2022 as world No.122, Day's 13th tour victory at the Byron Nelson Championship in May and tie for second at the British Open in August highlight a year which has already yielded eight top-10 finishes from 24 events and taken him back to world No.21.
Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner, is tied with Tony Finau (68), Collin Morikawa (68) and Jordan Spieth (71) going into the last round on Monday (AEDT).
Scheffler has been runner up to Viktor Hovland in the tournament for the previous two years but is well placed to break through this time.
He began working with putting coach Phil Kenyon a few months ago and is looking sharper. All his scoring putts were outside 12 feet.
"I feel as if I'm much more clear in what I need to be working on and a lot of that has to do with how I'm set up over the ball," Scheffler said. "When I'm set up in the right position, then I feel like my mechanics are really good."
Tournament host Tiger Woods improved with a 71 to be tied 16th in the elite 20-player field but a distant 16 shots behind Scheffler at even par.
Then again, this isn't just about the golf. Woods is coming back from another surgery that kept him out of golf for nearly eight months. Sunday would be the first time he completes a 72-hole tournament since Riviera in February.
He said he has experienced no soreness in his ankle, just other areas of his body, and those have recovered better than expected after each round.
"I still have game," Woods said. "It's whether or not the body can do it. I'm very pleasantly surprised at how I've recovered every day. My activations in the gym have been good."
He felt his score could have been in the high 60s, though he was most pleased with his health.
"To be able to knock off some of the rust as I have this week and showed myself that I can recover each and every day, that was kind of an unknown," he said.
"I've walked this far. I've done all my training. But add in playing and concentration and adrenaline and all those other factors that speed up everything, I'm very excited how the week's turned out."
- with AP
