Seamus Power goes into the final day of the US PGA Championship six shots behind leader Mito Pereira.
The Waterford man will play in the third last group on Sunday after a third round 67 at Southern Hills that had him top of the leaderboard for almost an hour.
Playing in just his second ever major after last month's Masters at Augusta, Power carded six birdies - four of which came in the final seven holes - and three bogeys.
The 35-year-old says he feels confident going into the final day and credited his caddie Simon Keelan for his advice on the course.
He told Sky Sports after his round: "You are basically learning a new course, so I needed Simon's help a lot out there. We did our best with it. Those birdies on the way in made all the difference.
"You're still hoping no one gets too far ahead on the back nine. My game feels good and today seeing a few putts going in towards the end feels nice and gives you confidence and hopefully that continues into tomorrow."
Meanwhile, having topped the leaderboard after the opening day, Rory McIroy now finds himself nine shots behind the leader going into the final one after a four over par round of 74 on Saturday.
It included a triple bogey, a double bogey, three bogeys and four birdies.
Shane Lowry goes into the final day three shots further back after a third round 71, which included three bogeys and two birdies after he began with seven consecutive pars.
Tiger Woods withdrew from the tournament on Saturday evening, hours after recording his worst score in the event.
Woods made the halfway cut with a shot to spare at Southern Hills, but struggled to a nine-over-par 79 in the third round.
That left the 46-year-old 12 over par and tied for last among the 79 players to make the halfway cut and his subsequent withdrawal came as no surprise.
Chilean Pereira’s third round of 69 gave him a three-shot advantage over England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and halfway leader Will Zalatoris, with Cameron Young a shot further back going into the final day.
Like Power, Pereira is playing in just his second major, having missed the cut in his only prior major appearance at the 2019 U.S. Open.
"It's by far the biggest tournament I played, the biggest round of golf and tomorrow is going to be even bigger," said Pereira, who withdrew from the Zurich Classic last month.
He added: "If you play really good golf during the week, you're going to win. Doesn't matter your first time or your 10th time, if you play really, really well you're going to have chances."
Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick is relishing the opportunity to win a first major title in the 104th US PGA Championship.
Fitzpatrick has recorded just one top-10 finish in his previous 27 major starts, but has won seven times on the DP World Tour, most recently last year’s Andalucia Masters at Valderrama.
“I’m just looking forward to it,” the two-time Ryder Cup player said. “I’ve spoke about my major record at length with my coaches.
“I’ve always just said to them, ‘I just want to give myself a chance’, because I back myself at the end of the day. I feel like whenever I’ve had a chance in Europe, I’ve played very well.
“Even over here when I’ve had chances to win I’ve played well. I’ve not lost it. It’s a chance to win and I’m looking forward to it more than anything.”
Asked how he would spend his time ahead of a late start on Sunday, Fitzpatrick added: “I’m sharing a house with Thomas Pieters this week which has been fun. First time we’ve done that, so we’ve had a bit of a laugh this week.
“He’ll probably put the basketball on, so I’ll probably just sit and pretend to watch and be on my phone and do nothing.”
Zalatoris (73) claimed his sole professional win on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020, though his shock second-place finish at Augusta last year earned him a spot among golf's beloved dark horses.
"Just stick to my game," he said. "Got nothing to lose tomorrow. I know I'm playing some really good golf, and hopefully at the end of the day it adds up to the lower score."
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