A fixture on the Order of Merit all season despite not having a victory to his credit, Taylor Pendrith posted the low round of the day with a 7-under 63 on Saturday at Highland Country Club to share the 54-hole lead with Jason Millard at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, the season finale for the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada.

In addition to crowning the Freedom Financial 55 Championship winner Sunday at Highland Country Club, the tournament will finalize the Order of Merit with the top five players on the season-ending money list earning Web.com Tour status for 2016. The current Order of Merit leader, J.J. Spaun entered the day tied for second but fell off the pace with a 3-over-par 73 and sits T20.

Pendrith, of Richmond Hill, Ontario, entered the week No. 4 on the money list on the strength of three runner-up finishes, all playoff losses. He hopes to draw on the positives from those playoffs come Sunday.

“I’m looking forward to having the opportunity to win,” he said. “I’ve learned a whole lot about trying to finish it off all summer and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow. I haven’t come out on to yet but that will hopefully change tomorrow.”

As for his round of 63 in wet and blustery conditions that included winds up to 50 km/hour, Pendrith credited his putter getting him off to a hot start.

“I made a lot of putts and hit it pretty close all day. It was really difficult out there, but I was able to get off to a good start (4-under through four holes) which really helped given the conditions,” Pendrith said.

One day after posting a 7-under-par 63 to take the 36-hole lead, Millard managed just one birdie over his first nine holes. That changed on the back nine, as he birdied No. 10 and followed that up with an ace on No. 11 with a 5-iron from 192 yards. He finished with a round of 67 and a share of the lead.

“With the wind and the rain and the conditions, it was tough, I hadn’t played in anything like that in a while,” Millard said. “I made some good par saves on the front that gave me some momentum. I haven’t been in this position in a while, and I felt pretty calm all day. I know there will be some nerves tomorrow, but I feel good heading into tomorrow.”

As for the hole-in-one, it was an unexpected but welcome surprise.

“I was trying to hit it low, and I really wasn’t aiming at the flag,” Millard said. “To be honest, I pushed it a little bit. But it felt great.”

If Millard wins this week and earns the $36,000 winner’s prize, he would reach he would hit $57,040 in earnings for the season and would have an outside shot at the top five.

Ryan Williams, of Vancouver, British Columbia, sits third at 12-under after his second consecutive round of 65. He won last year’s Freedom 55 Financial Championship up the road at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club, coming from two strokes back in the final round.

Max Gilbert of Saint-Georges, Quebec, is making another late-season charge, as the 2013 Freedom 55 Financial Championship winner sits three shots back in fourth place. Gilbert finished T10 last week at the Cape Breton Classic to move into the top 60 and qualify for the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. With a win by either Gilbert or Williams, the victor would fall shy of the top five on the Order of Merit but would secure entry into the finals of Web.com Tour Qualifying School.

NUMBERS YOU NEED TO KNOW

1: Shots needed on the first hole of the day for Brad Clapp, who aced the first hole in Saturday’s third round from 167 yards. Clapp also eagled No. 4 en route to a 6-under-par 64. The hole-in-one was Clapp’s second of the 2015 season, having aced No. 16 in the final round at The Players Cup.

2: Two of the top five in the Order of Merit enter the final round inside the top 10: Taylor Pendrith (T1) and Albin Choi (T8).

2,447: The dollar amount separating No. 5 (Albin Choi) and No. 6 (Michael Letzig).

QUOTABLES:

“You don’t get the first hole as a par-3 very often, but you celebrate like any other hole-in-one. Luckily there were some people around that witnessed it, otherwise I think people would think I was lying.” — Brad Clapp on his hole-in-one on No. 1 Saturday.

“When I holed out that second one, the bunker shot on 4, I looked at [fellow competitor John Ellis] and said, ‘this is kind of a weird day.’ It makes you feel like you can make anything.” — Clapp after holing out for eagle on No. 4 Saturday

“My putting’s been exceptional this week. Any time I can see one go in early, that kind of gives me the confidence that it should be a pretty good day. I had another great day on the greens, and it definitely helps when you make one early.” — Ryan Williams on his putting this week

NOTES:

• Weather: 22 degrees Celsius. Cloudy with showers, turning heavy mid-afternoon. Winds 30 km/h with gusts up to 50 km/h.
• The Freedom 55 Canadian Player of the Year will be named on Sunday, with a $25,000 prize going to the top Canadian in the Order of Merit. Taylor Pendrith entered the week with a $3,919 lead over Albin Choi.
• Bogey-free rounds: Ryan Williams (65), Cory Renfrew (65), Nicholas Reach (65), James Erkenbeck (65), Michael Letzig (67), Vince Covello (67), Clayton Rask (68).
• Ryan Williams has played 38 consecutive holes without a bogey entering the final round.
• This week’s Freedom 55 Financial Championship marks the fourth 54-hole lead/co-lead for Taylor Pendrith.
• Pendrith can win the Order of Merit this week with a win and a J.J. Spaun finish of 35th or worse and a C.T. Pan finish of 2-way 3rd or worse. Through 54 holes, Spaun is T20 and Pan is T35.
• If Millard wins the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, Pendrith would need to finish in a 2-way tie for 22nd and Choi would need to finish in a 4-way tie for 7th to stay ahead of him in The Five.

The Thames Valley Children’s Centre (TVCC) is the official charitable beneficiary of the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. Fifty-five per cent of ticket proceeds will go towards the wide range of services provided to more than 8000 children, youth and their families through the organization’s London Centre and its 15 regional office locations across Southwestern Ontario. Clients range in age from birth to 19 with services supporting a range of special needs including physical disabilities, communication disorders, developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders.

Children aged 17-and-under get in free all week at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. Free junior tickets are available for download here. Additional details, including ticket information, can be found at www.freedom55financialchampionship.com.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday for a share of the third-round lead with Eric Axley in the Web.com Tour Finals’ Small Business Connection Championship.

Axley had a 70 to match Grillo at 14-under 202 at River Run.

The tournament is second in the four-event series features the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings and non-members of the tour such as Grillo who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points. The top 25 players on Web.com regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on series earnings.

The 22-year-old Grillo missed three putts inside 6 feet on his first four holes and struggled on the greens the rest of the afternoon. He two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th for a share of the lead,

“I think I could have shot 29 on the front very easily, but I couldn’t make anything from short range or mid-range,” said Grillo, a playoff loser in March in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open. “The best club for me today was definitely not the putter. I played solid on the back and had good chances and hit good putts, they just didn’t go in.”

Axley, the 2006 Texas Open winner, was 189th in the FedEx Cup standings. he hit only five of 14 fairways in regulation.

“I couldn’t get it in the fairway,” Axley said. “I didn’t miss by much, maybe 3 or 4 yards, but you could not get it near the pins from the rough.”

Brett Stegmaier, the leader after each of the first two rounds, had a 73 to drop into a tie for third with Kyle Stanley (65) at 12 under. Stegmaier was 69th on the Web.com Tour regular-season money list. Stanley, the 2012 Phoenix Open winner, was 181st in FedEx Cup standings.

Canadian Brad Fritsch tallies three birdies and an eagle, but ends the day at even-par to sit T41.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Instead of running away from the field one more time, Jason Day spent most of the third round at the BMW Championship running in place.

He was hardly the only player struggling to cope with the suddenly cool, wet and windy conditions at Conway Farms left behind by a wave of overnight storms. After opening rounds of 61 and 63, the Aussie made his first bogey in 20 holes at No. 6, then piled on three more to offset a half-dozen birdies Saturday en route to a 2-under 69.

“Obviously, the most difficult round that we’ve had this week by far,” Day said.

He was at 20-under 193 and had a six-stroke lead. That’s one shot better than he had at the start of the round, and the biggest cushion any 54-hole leader has enjoyed on tour this season.

“I think a lot of players really understood how hard it was,” Day said. “It was very difficult to get anything going.”

Day has won three times – including his first major, the PGA Championship – and is an aggregate 99 under in tournament play since a narrow miss at the British Open in late July.

While the pack pursuing the FedEx Cup leader got no closer, there was some reshuffling.

Scott Piercy overcame some shaky play early to shoot a 67 and moved up from a tie for fifth into second, and a spot alongside Day in the final pairing Sunday. Brendon Todd, who played in Day’s group Saturday, made a triple-bogey 7 at No. 4, bogeyed the next two and never recovered en route to a 76 that dropped him into a tie for 18th.

World No.1 Rory McIlroy climbed from a tie for ninth to claim fourth place. He will go off in the next-to-last pairing with rookie Daniel Berger, one of the few players who held their ground. Berger shot 70 and was tied with Piercy for second.

“The tournament is in Jason’s hands right now,” McIlroy said, adding a moment later, “he needs to come back to the field a little bit.”

That seemed like a distinct possibility midway through the third round.

Day has been hitting his driver so long and straight that he rarely walks through the locker room these days without someone joking he must be playing off the ladies’ tees. Maybe that’s why his drives at both Nos. 13 and 15 came as such shocks.

Day had barely launched his tee shot at 13 when he turned away in disgust, then headed back to his golf bag for another ball – even as his first one finally came to rest in the front yard of a home across the road from the course.

“Just a poor swing … I’ve fought with that hole in the past,” said Day, who quickly gathered himself and crushed his second drive there, then stuck a short iron from 147 yards out to within 5 feet of the pin and made that for a hard-earned bogey.

At the 15th, he found plenty of trouble on the other side of the fairway, blocking his tee shot into the knee-high rough above a fairway bunker. He hacked a wedge out from there and wound up between two greenside bunkers. He used his putter from there, but wound up missing a 7-footer to save par.

“Just horrible,” he said about the tee shot at 15. “I’m just trying to get something down the fairway and give myself a chance at birdie and ended walking off with a bogey.”

But Day said rolling in a birdie putt from 20 feet at the 18th restored some momentum and that should give his rivals pause – as if they didn’t have enough to worry about.

“You kind of have to look at Jason as an outlier” Rickie Fowler said. “Right now, it’s almost like there’s a secondary tournament going on, for the guys that are 8, 12 under right now.”

David Hearn posts 2-under 69 to sit in a tie for 51st place.

ST. LEON-ROT, Germany – Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr earned a point for the United States to trail Europe 8-5 in the Solheim Cup before the other fourball matches were suspended Saturday due to bad light.

The American duo defeated Spanish pair Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz 3 and 2 to reduce the Europeans’ lead after a good morning for the home team.

“We knew where we stood going into the afternoon. It didn’t really change our mindset,” Thompson said. “We knew we made a good team with the matches that we’ve played together. We just went out and played aggressive.”

The U.S. held a slight advantage in the three remaining fourball matches to be resumed Sunday morning at St. Leon-Rot Golf Club.

Rookie Alison Lee and Brittany Lincicome were 1 up after 15 holes against England’s Charley Hull and Norway’s Suzann Pettersen, who missed a birdie to match Lee on the last hole played before darkness intervened.

Stacy Lewis rediscovered her form as she and Gerina Piller were 1 up over Germany’s Caroline Masson and Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall after 16 holes played.

Catriona Matthew of Scotland gave the Europeans reason to cheer when she birdied the 15th hole to leave her and Karine Icher of France 1 up against Brittany Lang and Lizette Salas with three holes to play.

“At least we have a little bit of red on the board. I haven’t seen much of that the last few days,” U.S. captain Juli Inkster said. “But we need to finish. We need to buckle down and get those last two holes.”

Earlier Saturday, Hull and Pettersen recovered from 4 down to win 1 up against Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel, as Europe took a commanding 8-4 lead from the morning’s foursome matches.

Creamer and Pressel were 4 up and comfortable after the 11th hole of their foursome match, but the European pair birdied the next and finished with four straight birdies to give the home team all the momentum going into the afternoon’s fourball matches.

“I was just buzzing,” Hull said.

The 19-year-old from England swatted away an insect and almost holed an ace on the 15th, where Pettersen started the four-birdie run.

“I told Charley, let’s throw darts at the pins, stay aggressive,” Pettersen said. “This one was a robbery.”

Home favorite Sandra Gal and Matthew then defeated Lincicome and Angela Stanford 1 up to deal the Americans another blow.

Melissa Reid of England played a big part in the early European dominance on her 28th birthday.

Reid rejoined partner Ciganda to storm to a 4 and 3 win over Lee and Michelle Wie in their foursome match, which had also been suspended Friday due to bad light.

In the other carried over fourball, Piller and Lang pulled level with German pair Gal and Caroline Masson, who had been 1 up through 15 holes, to halve another point.

Lewis and Piller provided the U.S. with its only full point from the morning thanks to a 5 and 4 victory over Swedish duo Anna Nordqvist and Hedwall.

The event will end Sunday with 12 singles matches after the suspended fourball matches are played.

Europe needs 14 points to win a third straight Solheim Cup for the first time. The U.S. needs 14 1/2 to extend its series lead to 9-5.

MONZA, Italy – Martin Kaymer opened with four straight birdies on his way to a 7-under 65 Saturday to grab a share of the lead after the third round of the Italian Open.

The former top-ranked German had his lone bogey on the fifth but added another four birdies to sit tied with Jens Fahrbring of Sweden and Frenchman Romain Wattel atop the leaderboard with a 17-under total of 199.

“I am looking forward to tomorrow – it will be a challenge to myself and a challenge to beat my opponents,” said Kaymer, who is looking for a first win since triumphing at last year’s U.S. Open. “I am up there with a chance to win on Sunday and that’s all you want at the end of the day.”

Fahrbring, who led overnight with Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark, had seven birdies but dropped three shots on his way to a 68.

Wattel had spent most of the day in the chasing pack and made the turn in 35, but a birdie on the 13th gave him a boost and he eagled the next hole before further gains on the 16th and 17th on his way to a 66.

The trio is two shots ahead of Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay (68), Bjerregaard (70) and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (67).

Y.E. Yang hit a hole-in-one on the 143-yard 12th hole – the 42nd on The European Tour this season. Yang shot a 69 to sit tied for 41st, seven shots back.

SAN MARTIN, Calif. – Former PGA Tour player Omar Uresti and Sean Dougherty won two matches Friday to help the United States take a 4 1/2-3 1/2 lead over Great Britain and Ireland in the PGA Cup.

Uresti and Dougherty beat Englishmen Lee Clarke and Paul Hendriksen 1 up for the Americans’ lone point in the morning fourball matches at CordeValle in the competition for club professionals. The U.S. duo topped Ireland’s Niall Kearney and England’s Alex Wright 3 and 1 in the afternoon foursomes.

“Pars weren’t very good out there today. You had to make birdies,” said Dougherty, the PGA head professional at Oakwood Country Club in Kansas City, Missouri. “Omar and I have similar personalities. Our games fit well together. We both like to attack the golf course, but we are still gritty. Seeing our teammates post (U.S.) flags on the scoreboard this afternoon really helped our momentum.”

In the other foursomes matches, Bon Sowards and Jamie Broce routed Englishmen Cameron Clark and Lee Clarke 8 and 7, Michael Block and Stuart Deane beat Scotland’s Graham Fox and England’s David Dixon 4 and 3, and Matt Dobyns and Ben Polland halved with England’s Jason Livermore and Scotland’s Gareth Wright.

In fourball play, Clark and England’s Michael Watson beat Polland and Dobyns 3 and 2, Fox and Dixon topped Sowards and Broce 2 and 1, and Levermore and Wright edged Alan Morin and Grant Sturgeon 3 and 2.

The U.S. leads the series 17-5-4.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Brett Stegmaier shot a 4-under 68 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Web.com Tour Finals’ Small Business Connection Championship.

The 32-year-old former University of Florida player had a 13-under 131 total at River Run. He had his second straight bogey-free round after opening with a 63 to take a two-stroke lead.

“I think I actually hit the ball better today than yesterday,” Stegmaier said. “I was hitting it so solid that I was going long on quite a few holes and I had lots of 20- and 30-footers for birdie.

“I really don’t think I was close to making a bogey all day. If you would have given me a 68 at the start of the day I would have taken it. Everybody knows it’s hard to back up a round like I had yesterday. I didn’t really have a score in mind when I started.”

The four-event series features the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings and non-members of the tour who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points. The top 25 players on Web.com regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on earnings in the series.

Stegmaier finished seventh in the regular-season finale in Oregon to jump to 69th on the Web.com Tour’s money list and get into the series. He earned $31,000 last week with an eighth-place finish in the series opener in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Eric Axley was second after a 65. The winner of the PGA Tour’s 2006 Texas Open, he was 189th this season in the FedEx Cup standings.

“I’ve felt like I’ve been on the verge for a while,” Axley said. “My practice rounds, even those back on the PGA Tour, were really good and when the bell rang, it just wasn’t quite there. This is more of how I’ve been playing in the practice rounds.:

Zack Fischer was third at 11 under after a 68. He was 48th on the Web.com Tour money list.

Canadian Brad Fritsch climbed the leaderboard following a 2-under 70 to move into a tie for 36th. Roger Sloan shot 76.

With his game ailing, Tiger Woods announced he underwent a second microdiscectomy surgery on his back.

“This is certainly disappointing, but I’m a fighter,” Woods said. “I’ve been told I can make a full recovery, and I have no doubt that I will.”

Woods made the announcement on his website – www.tigerwoods.com – and reported the microsurgical procedure – intended to relieve pain from a pinched nerve – was performed late Wednesday in Park City, Utah, by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Rich.

Dr. Rich, who performed the initial operation in March 2014, called it “a complete success.” Woods was discharged Thursday.

The 14-time major champion has not won one of golf’s four biggest events since the 2008 U.S. Open. Woods also has won more than 100 events worldwide, but none since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

Woods said he would be forced to cancel planned appearances at three events – the Frys.com Open at Silverado in California and the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup in Mexico City next month and his own Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in early December.

“I’d like to send my regrets to Frys and all those associated with the America’s Golf Cup … I will be attending my foundation-hosted Hero World Challenge but won’t be able to play,” Woods said.

After experiencing lingering discomfort in his back and hip, Woods elected to have surgery quickly in hopes of returning to the PGA Tour early in 2016, or as soon as possible. He is scheduled to begin rehabbing within a week.

“I appreciate the fans’ concern and support,” he said. “This is unfortunate, but these things happen. I’ve been injured before and played again. It won’t be any different this time.”

Murfreesboro, Tennessee’s Jason Millard shot a 7-under 63 at Highland Country Club on Friday to take the second round lead at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, the final event of the 2015 Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada season.

The 26-year old carded seven birdies, an eagle and two bogeys to reach 10-under and take a three-stroke lead over defending champion Ryan Williams of Vancouver, B.C., Order of Merit leader J.J. Spaun and Californians John Catlin and Ben Geyer.

“That’s a tough golf course out there, but I’ve started to make some putts and I haven’t really done that in the last couple of months, so it’s good to see,” said Millard, who comes into the event 30^th on the Order of Merit, but with just one made cut in his last four starts.

“That’s just golf. I’ve missed the cut by one shot and two shots, so it’s not like I’ve been playing bad,” said Millard. “Hopefully I can keep it going the next couple of days.”

Millard’s best finish this season is a tie for second at the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist on a course, Uplands Golf Club, that Millard says bears a strong resemblance to this week’s layout at Highland.

“I said to someone I was playing a practice round with that I think it’s very similar,” said Millard, who owns three top-25 finishes on the Mackenzie Tour this season.

Williams, who claimed his first Mackenzie Tour title at the event last year, moved into contention with a bogey-free 65, one of just four rounds without a blemish on Friday, while Spaun held steady in a tie for second at 7-under along with first-round leader Catlin and Order of Merit no. 60 Ben Geyer, the last man in the field.

“I had the putter really going today, which was nice. I made a lot of putts and had no bogeys on the card, so it was a fun round of golf,” said Williams, who won with a 14-under total last year at Sunningdale Golf and Country Club.

Dundas, Ontario’s Mackenzie Hughes birdied the final two holes for the new tournament course record with an 8-under 62.

NUMBERS YOU NEED TO KNOW

92: Ben Geyer’s yardage to the hole on 17, where he holed out for eagle.

62: Mackenzie Hughes’ Tournament Course Record on Friday.

23: Players within three shots of second place after two rounds.

QUOTABLES:

“I tried to hit about an 82-yard shot just because of how firm it is right now. It took a couple of bounces and tricked in just like a putt.” – Ben Geyer on his hole-out for eagle on the 17^th

“After the round yesterday, I told myself, ‘I’m nine shots back, but the course was windy today, and if I go pretty low tomorrow I’m still in it.’ I still have two more rounds to go, so you never know,” – C.T. Pan, who played his way back into the tournament with a 7-under 63 to sit tied for 14^th.

“I don’t have a whole lot to lose; I’m kind of in no-man’s land when it comes to the money list. I need to finish high, or it’s not going to affect me too much. I went out there a bit more free today and started to make some putts. I’m close enough to where I could possibly jump into that top 10, but it’s not like it’s a tap-in. I have to play really well.” – Mackenzie Hughes, who shot the new course record of 62 at Highland Country Club. Hughes enters the week 14^th on the Order of Merit.

“I’ve been in this position before. I’ll be in one of the last groups out tomorrow, and I’ve got the confidence that I’ve been there before and done it before, which definitely helps.” – Ryan Williams on being in a familiar position in London.

Notes:

• Weather: 24 degrees Celsius (29 with Humidity). Cloudy with showers. Winds 32 km/h.
• Charlie Bull played as a single in the day’s first group, shooting an even-par 70 in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
• Taylor Pendrith holds a $3,919 lead over Albin Choi in the race for Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year and a $25,000 prize. Both opened with rounds of 67-67 to sit in a tie for sixth.
• Ross Beal and Clayton Rask both drove the 18^th green and made eagle on Friday.
• Bogey free rounds on Friday: C.T. Pan (63), Ryan Williams (65), Julien Brun (65), J.J. Spaun (67).
• Click here for scores.
• Click here for photos. Please credit Claus Andersen/PGA TOUR.

The Thames Valley Children’s Centre (TVCC) is the official charitable beneficiary of the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. Fifty-five per cent of ticket proceeds will go towards the wide range of services provided to more than 8000 children, youth and their families through the organization’s London Centre and its 15 regional office locations across Southwestern Ontario. Clients range in age from birth to 19 with services supporting a range of special needs including physical disabilities, communication disorders, developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders.

Children aged 17-and-under get in free all week at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. Free junior tickets are available for download here. Additional details, including ticket information, can be found at www.freedom55financialchampionship.com.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – As Jason Day’s long eagle putt at the last hole rolled down the hill and toward the hole, every revolution of the ball only added to the sense of inevitability.

When it disappeared into the cup for an 8-under 63, a PGA Tour record-tying 36-hole score of 18 under and a five-shot lead at the BMW Championship, Day pumped his fist as playing partners Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler broke into widening grins and then applause.

Their expressions said it all about golf’s man of the moment: Day is making everything that matters.

“I feel like I should be paying to come watch some of this,” said Spieth, tied for fifth at 11 under. “It was special.”

Special enough, anyway, that Day’s closest pursuers, rookie Daniel Berger and Brendon Todd, shot 64 and 63, respectively, on a rain-softened Conway Farms layout and still couldn’t make up any ground. Yet Day’s day could have been more special still.

After heavy rain forced a suspension of the opening round, Day returned to Conway Farms early Friday needing to hole a 44-yard wedge shot for an eagle that would have given him a 59 and tied another tour record. Instead, he hit a low pitch that skidded to a stop 10 feet from the hole and narrowly missed and settled for a 61.

“I came in this morning and obviously didn’t shoot 59 and felt like everyone was disappointed in me,” Day chuckled.

He was kidding, but just barely. Day has won three times – including his first major, the PGA Championship – and is an aggregate 97 under in tournament play since a narrow miss at the British Open in late July.

“I don’t know how else to explain the way I’ve been playing. I feel very free, like there’s no stress. There’s obviously stress,” Day added a moment later, “but I’m enjoying it.”

After shooting 32 on the front nine to start the second round, the Aussie strung together four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back, then capped it off with an 43-foot putt for eagle at No. 18. But he was far from the only golfer on a roll.

With little wind and receptive greens and fairways, the field averaged 3-under 68 and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy said even that seemed generous.

Citing the conditions, the length of Conway Farms (it played at 6,892 yards Friday) and the number of par-4 holes reachable with a driver, “the par for us out here should be 67 or 66,” added McIlroy, who shot 65 and called it only “a decent score.”

Berger, too, might have done better if not for a lost ball at No. 14, which led to his only bogey of the day.

“We had plenty of people definitely helping us look, probably 25 people” Berger said. “At one point, I offered the crowd $500 if they could find. Seriously, I did.

“We probably found 20 balls,” he added ruefully.

Like Day and Spieth and three other players, Todd made eagle at the 556-yard, par-5 18th. Todd holed a wedge from 81 yards, but didn’t stick around long to celebrate. His wife flew in earlier in the day, but because Todd forgot to add her name to the reservation, she wound up watching the round in the hotel bar.

“She told me `good playing,’ so I assume she caught a little bit,” he said. “They don’t like to show me on TV, but I think they probably showed that one on 18.”

Day’s finish there definitely made it onto the screen. Considering the way he’s playing, no one in the golf world dares take their eyes off him.

He said as a youngster he wanted to dominate the game like Tiger Woods and after the second round, the inevitable question followed: “Are you heading in that direction now?”

“I hope so. That would be nice,” Day said, but caught himself soon after and added, “But he’s won 79 times and I’ve only won six. But it’s something I can shoot for.”

David Hearn posted a 2-under 69 on the day to move to T56.