The Australian 13-time tour winner, who last enjoyed success at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, opened with a 76, put himself back in the mix with a tournament-low 64 on Friday and a wild round of 69 on a baked out Bay Hill course on Saturday.
The 37-year-old was briefly tied for the lead until closing out the front nine with three straight bogeys. He was losing ground until making three straight birdies at the end, including a 20-footer on the 17th.
Even without much wind and occasional cloud cover, the heat and three days of sun brought a yellow shine to fairways and greens. Birdie putts from a reasonable range rolled out past the hole sometimes eight feet or more away.
"Any time you put your putter down and you start sliding on your putter, that's when you know the greens are getting pretty slick," Day said.
"They're changing colour and you can kind of start to see the change in colour."
Collin Morikawa made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a five-under 67, giving him a one-shot lead and a chance to win for the first time in 17 months.
Fellow American Russell Henley holed a long bunker shot for birdie on the opening hole, ran off four in a row to start the back nine and had a 67 to finish one shot behind. Corey Conners of Canada carded a 69 and is two back.
Irishman Shane Lowry, the 36-hole leader, had a 76 to leave him six shots behind.
Rory McIlroy (73) made bogey on three of his last four holes to fall seven shots adrift, while Scottie Scheffler could only manage a 71 to be eight shots back.
"You have to hit good shots out there," Morikawa, who is at 10 under, said.
"It can get you from any direction."
The final hour had Morikawa, Henley and Conners trading spots or sharing time at the top. Morikawa was the only one to avoid a bogey over the final four-hole stretch. He laid up on the par-5 16th and hit lob wedge and let a six-foot birdie trickle and swirl into the cup.
He barely touched his 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
Every shot — trying to keep it in the fairway, on the green and putting — required respect.
"Some of these pin locations, I feel I'm having to putt very defensively," Henley said.
Michael Kim had two eagles on the back nine for a 67, joining Tony Finau (68) at five under. Kim is the only player among the top five going into the final round who is not already exempt for the Masters, and a win would take care of that.
Morikawa is a two-time major champion whose last victory was in October 2023, 502 days ago, at the Zozo Championship in Japan.
"Thank you for putting that in exact days. I hope you have it in hours and minutes," he said.
The only number that matters is 18 holes and a lot of stress along the way.
With AAP.
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