The Australian shot a two-under 70 at Spyglass Hill on Saturday to be tied eighth, four shots behind joint leaders Beau Hossler (65), Andrew Putnam (68) and Tom Hoge (68), who are at 15 under.
Two huge names - Patrick Cantlay (68) and Jordan Spieth (63) - are just a shot off the lead along with Joel Dahmen (66).
But there is no doubt former world No.1 Day's presence on the leaderboard will have their attention, especially after he contended before finshing tied third at last week's Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
While he hasn't won anywhere since 2018, Day has finished top 10 in eight of his 12 previous starts in this event, including each of the last five years, and he's broken par in 39 of his 49 rounds.
The one thing he hasn't done yet is add the Pebble Beach crown to his resume of 12 tour titles but as he says: "I think I'm very due. I've played some really solid golf over my lifetime here."
Hossler has shot back-to-back 65s after an opening 70 and finished with a flurry on Saturday, posting four birdies in his last six holes.
"Pebble can give and take so quickly, right?" Hossler said. "I was glad to be on the receiving end today."
Hoge posted his bogey-free round on Spyglass Hill Golf Club, getting two birdies in his final five holes.
Putnam overcame a bad start at Pebble Beach, making seven birdies inlcuding five in a row.
Spieth vaulted 34 spots up the leaderboard playing on Pebble Beach. He opened with two birdies, added an eagle on No. 6, and finished the round with eight birdies against a bogey on No. 13.
Cantlay carded five birdies in his round at Pebble Beach.