Inside the Field: THE PLAYERS Championship

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Updated: Thursday, 10 a.m. ET Cameron Young opened his first The Open Championship by shooting 8-under 64 to take a three-stroke clubhouse lead at St. Andrews. Among the players on his tail are a couple of former champions. RELATED: Leaderboard | How to Watch Young two-putted for birdie at No. 18 to complete a clean card in his first competitive round at the Home of Golf. The American was 7 under after 12 holes and looked set to challenge the lowest 18-hole score at a major championship, Branden Grace’s 62 at The Open in 2017. Young made five straight pars — including three-putting at the par-5 No. 14 — before his eighth birdie of the round at the last. Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion, and the 52-year-old Ernie Els, who lifted the Claret Jug in 2002 and ’12, were 5 under midway through their back nines. Cameron Smith of Australia is in the clubhouse after a 67.

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jason Day may be known for his ability to launch golf balls into orbit, but it’s his performance with the shortest clubs that has him most excited about his game. Day is line to earn his second PGA TOUR win of the season after shooting 67 on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Championship. He made birdie on five of his final 10 holes Saturday to finish 54 holes at 10-under 203 (69-67-67). He’s two strokes ahead of Nick Watney, who’s seeking his first win since 2012. Day has made just three bogeys, the second-fewest in the field, at a demanding Quail Hollow layout despite ranking 52nd in greens in regulation (33 of 54, 61 percent). He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and is 11th in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’s also perfect out of the sand this week, getting up-and-down all 12 times he’s been in a bunker. “It gives you all the confidence in the world sometimes,â€� Day said about his short game. “It doesn’t matter how bad you hit it, you know that in the back of your mind that you’re going to walk off with par.” “I’d much rather have a great short game than be the best ball-striker on the planet.â€� Day leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting this season (+1.386), just as he did during his three-win season of 2016. He fell to 39th in the statistic last season. This is just Day’s third appearance in this event, but he fell in love with the course at last year’s PGA Championship, where he finished ninth despite a quadruple-bogey on the 54th hole. Day loves hard courses, and his short game can help him grind out pars on such tracks. That aspect of his game has been especially important this week as he continues to break in a new set of irons. He won this year’s Farmers Insurance Open with his old set, but switched to new irons at Augusta National because he felt like they were causing his shots to fly too high and with too much spin. He is using a mixed set with TaylorMade’s P790s in the long irons and P730s in the mid- and short-irons. Day also said his desire has returned after going winless last season. He had won nine times in the previous three seasons and reached No. 1 in the world ranking, but the demands of his lofty position in the game and his mother’s cancer diagnosis, led to burn-out. A win would lift Day as high as No. 2 in the FedExCup standings entering THE PLAYERS Championship, which he won two years ago. He’s currently 16th in the standings after his win at Torrey Pines and runner-up at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. His 22nd-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard is his worst finish in six individual stroke-play events this season. “If you get up and you kind of don’t really want it and don’t have the motivation to improve and get better as a person and as a player, then it’s a real struggle to come out and beat the best players in the world,â€� Day said. “This year I’ve kind of recommitted myself to try to get back to No. 1.â€� WOODS BREAKS PAR Tiger Woods shot 68 on Saturday, his first sub-par round of the week. He will enter the final round in 31st place, nine shots behind Jason Day. Woods made six birdies, but also had three bogeys, including a three-putt on the 18th green. He still gained strokes on the green (+0.55) for the first time this week. “My ball-striking’s been fine. I just haven’t made anything,â€� Woods said as his first PLAYERS Championship since 2015 approaches. He won at TPC Sawgrass in both 2001 and 2013. WISE’S WILD RIDE Aaron Wise made an important save on Saturday’s final hole to keep himself in contention. The rookie chipped in for bogey on 18 after whiffing a ball inside the hazard left of the 18th green. He can be grateful that his bogey wasn’t a bigger number. He shot 70 while playing alongside Peter Malnati in the final group and will start the final round in a four-way tie for third at 7 under par, three shots behind Day. Wise pulled his approach shot to the final green. The ball was on grass, but also inside the hazard line drawn around the creek that runs down the hole’s left side. He was unable to ground his club before attempting his shot from a steep downhill lie. He slid under the ball on his first try. The next one landed on the green, but rolled to the back fringe. He holed his 40-foot chip shot to avert further disaster. NOTABLES Peter Uihlein, who’s playing his first season as a PGA TOUR member, shot 62 to jump 45 spots and into a tie for third place. He’ll start the final round three shots behind Jason Day. Uihlein’s score is the lowest at Quail Hollow since it underwent renovations for last year’s PGA Championship. Click here to read more about his round. Like Uihlein, Phil Mickelson also shot a low round early Saturday after shooting back-to-back 72s. Mickelson made five birdies and an eagle (at the par-5 10th) to shoot his lowest score since a final-round 64 at last year’s Greenbrier Classic. Those are his lowest two scores since his 63 at Royal Troon in the first round of the 2016 Open Championship. “I felt very unfocused the first two days,â€� Mickelson said Saturday. “I didn’t feel like I was really committed to the shots. I didn’t have great focus. I don’t know how else to say it.â€� Mickelson, winner of THE PLAYERS in 2007, is fourth in the FedExCup. He will start Sunday in 10th place, five shots behind Day. Rory McIlroy made a 10-stroke improvement from Friday to Saturday, shooting a 5-under 66 in the third round to move up to T16 entering the final round. The 2016 FedExCup champion still sounded like he was wary about the state of his game, though. “I’m just not that comfortable with anything right now,â€� said McIlroy, who ranks 32nd in the FedExCup. Bryson DeChambeau was 5 over par after the first 21 holes of the Wells Fargo Championship, including a triple-bogey on his third hole. He played the next 33 holes in 12 under par, making 11 birdies, one eagle and one bogey, and now sits in third place. He’s 22nd in the FedExCup after finishing in the top three in two of his past three starts (2nd, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard; T3, RBC Heritage). He will start Sunday three shots off the lead. SUPERLATIVES Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau and Tom Lovelady both hit 369-yard drives on the par-5 15th holes. DeChambeau made par, while Lovelady made birdie as part of his 72. He’s in 66th place. Longest putt: Michael Thompson holed a 62-foot putt for birdie on the par-3 13th hole as part of his third-round 69. He is in 16th place at 3 under par, seven shots behind Day. Lowest round: Peter Uihlein shot a bogey-free 62 after making seven birdies and an eagle. Starting at No. 4, he played a six-hole stretch in 7 under par. He eagled the par-5 10th hole and made birdies at 14 and 15 before making par on the final three holes. Easiest hole: The 301-yard, par-4 14th hole played to a 3.51 scoring average. There were two eagles and 45 birdies on the hole. Only six players made bogey. Hardest hole: The 494-yard, par-4 finishing hole played to a 4.26 scoring average. There were just six birdies on the hole Saturday. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of Round 4 of the Wells Fargo Championship, listen from 1-6 p.m. ET on PGATOUR.com.

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