[Photo: Augusta National]
Jason Day is happy to be chaser as he goes into the final round of the 2026 Masters with a real chance of becoming only the second Australian to win a green jacket.
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After heading into the third round a distant eight shots behind Rory McIlroy, Day will tee off on Monday morning (Australian time) facing just a three-shot deficit to the defending champion and American Cameron Young.
On the back of four consecutive back-nine birdies, Day shot a four-under-par 68 – a career best on a Saturday at Augusta National – to be eight-under-par for the tournament and in a tie for fifth.
Playing alongside the Australian, world No.3 Young stormed to a seven-under-par 65 as he tries to win his first major, while McIlroy couldn’t find his Friday afternoon magic, shooting a 73 to see his six-shot overnight lead wiped out.
The only other players ahead of Day heading into the final round are American Sam Burns (68) at 10-under and former Open champion Shane Lowry (68) at nine-under,
Last year’s playoff loser, Justin Rose (69), sits at eight-under and will be his final-round playing partner.
“I feel like the guys that are leading right now have all the pressure,” Day said.
“I’m the chaser. Usually the chasers don’t really have a lot of the pressure. Guys at the top of the leaderboard always are trying to defend the lead, whereas I’m pushing forward trying to cut into the lead.
“I feel good about my game. I feel very happy with where things are. I’m looking forward to the challenge at least. If I can get myself around the lead on the back side, I’ll be very pleased.”
Day’s back nine surge came at the same time as McIlroy was running into trouble, finding the water with his approach to the 11th green, leading to a double-bogey before he dropped another shot at the 12th.
What seemed like only an outside chance of a win for the Queenslander, who finished equal second on debut at Augusta National in 2011, quickly turned into a real opportunity for his second major championship.
“You’ve just got to try and get yourself the opportunity on the back side,” Day said of the final round. “If you can get somewhere close to the lead on the back side, anything can happen.
“The goal is to try and cut into the lead tomorrow through nine, and if I can do that, great, then get myself somewhere near the lead on the back side and try and give myself opportunities.”
Day’s third round started with a three-putt bogey at the first, dropping the former PGA champion nine shots behind McIlroy.
He birdied both of the par 5s on the first nine to turn in one-under-par 35 and the string of four birdies started when he hit a wedge to within two metres on the par-3 12th.
He completed a clever up and down, putting from off the green for a 4, on the par-5 13th, with a 12-footer on the par-4 14th completing the hat-trick.
The Queenslander then moved to nine-under-par when he birdied the dangerous par-5 15th after taking on the green in two and narrowly avoiding a trip into the water, his ball ending on the fringe.
“Statistically I average around four to five birdies a round, so I just knew they were going to come. I just didn’t know when they were going to come,” Day said.
“It was nice to be able to have the chances from 12 to 15. Hit a lot of good, quality shots going into the greens. I also hit a lot of good drives to give myself the opportunities up near the greens on the par-5s.”
The birdie streak came to end when Day found the bunker left of the green on the par-3 16th for the second straight day.
Two pars to finish gave the 38-year-old his first sub-70 third round at the Masters since 2018.
“I had a poor swing on 16. Tried to get a little bit extra out of the 8-iron and I didn’t need to. Just pulled it in the bunker, and obviously that’s not a spot where you want to miss it,” he said.
“The next hole was a great par save to kind of keep momentum going, because you can definitely go bogey, bogey 17 and then obviously walking up 18 trying to save par up there, and that can be difficult too.
“So the two – the par save on 17 and a nice easy par on 18 – definitely keeps momentum going forward to tomorrow.”
Scottie Scheffler matched Young for low round of the day, the seven-under-par 65 moving the world No.1 from 12 shots behind at the start of the day to a deficit of just four.
The only other Australian to make the cut, 2013 champion Adam Scott, is out of contention, nine shots back after a two-under-par 70 moved him to two-under overall, and a tie for 36th, through 54 holes.
