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Jason Day, Sang-Moon Bae share Barclays lead after 63s

By Gethin Coolbaugh, The Sports Xchange
Sang-Moon Bae. Photo by Frank Polich/UPI
Sang-Moon Bae. Photo by Frank Polich/UPI | License Photo

EDISON, N.J. - Jason Day fed off Sang-Moon Bae, and it went a long way.

The Australian and his South Korean partner combined for 15 birdies Saturday, two of which came on No. 18 as the pair took a shared one-stroke lead at 11-under after carding matching 7-under-par 63s in the third round of The Barclays at Plainfield Country Club.

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"It was a good day," said Day, the winner of this year's PGA Championship and Canadian Open. "To be able to have Sang-Moon get off to a good start, he hit it great all day. We're kind of feeding off each other, drafting off each other there today."

As well as Day played - he notched six birdies and eagled the par-5 No. 16 after placing his fairway shot five feet from the hole - the outcome could have been different had Bae scuffled.

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"It definitely is a struggle when you're playing with a guy that is not playing that good, because it ... may leak into your game," Day said.

Fortunately, that wasn't an issue. Bae played exceptionally well, making nine birdies to raise his total to 21 for the weekend heading into Sunday's final round in the first of four FedExCup Playoffs events.

"I played really good today," Bae said. "I played with Jason Day. He's a world-class player and I feel like I learned so much golf from him today. He's really awesome. I really enjoyed playing with him."

Bubba Watson, the 36-hole leader, bogeyed No. 7 after missing a four-foot par putt, but bounced back with a pair of birdies on the back nine to finish third with a 3-under 67.

"At the end of the day, obviously I didn't shoot myself in the foot," Watson said. "I still have a shot at it. You know, I hit some bad shots, hit some good shots. All in all, I'm happy where I'm at."

Zach Johnson, who claimed last month's Open Championship at St. Andrews in a four-hole playoff, bogeyed No. 18 to drop out of a tie for second. He carded a 67.

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Ryan Palmer is tied for fourth with Johnson and Henrik Stenson of Sweden at 9-under.

Palmer grabbed a share of the lead after opening the back nine with three birdies on four holes, but bogeyed the 14th and 16th to finish with a 65. Carlos Ortiz of Mexico recorded the weekend low with a bogey-free 8-under 62, the second-lowest round in tournament and course history, to move up 49 spots and pull into a temporary tie for the lead after his morning round.

Ortiz, tied for seventh with Jason Dufner, Kevin Kisner, and Spencer Levin at 7-under, sank eight birdies - three straight from Nos. 10-12 and two more on Nos. 16 and 18 - to come within a stroke of Brandt Snedeker's all-time low of 61 at Plainfield in 2011.

"If I could play good the first nine, I knew I could get it on the back," said Ortiz, who closed out his front nine with three birdies on his final six holes. "I started great."

Ortiz, trying to become the first rookie in PGA Tour history to win a FedExCup Playoffs event, barely made the cut with opening rounds of 73-68 and entered the weekend ranked 112th in the FedExCup standings - 3,654 points behind leader Jordan Speith, who missed the cut after Friday's round.

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The top 100 in the standings move onto next week's Deutsche Bank Championship.

"You start looking at that and you're going to get crazy because you cannot control how the other players do," Ortiz said. "If I play good, I advance for next week, and then I'll see from there."

Phil Mickelson came in with a 69, moving to 2-under overall. The fan favorite saved par after his tee shot at No. 1 found the nearby ninth fairway rough and later used his famous backward shot in the bunker at No. 18 to close with a par.

NOTES: Jason Day tweaked his back earlier in the week and has been dealing with back spasms, but called the injury a non-issue. "It's a little tight, but when you have back spasms and everything kind of locks up, it's kind of a granted that it's going to be tight over the week," Day said. ... Sang-Moon Bae, who will soon leave the PGA Tour for mandatory military service in his native South Korea, addressed the situation after Saturday's round. "I have a little mixed emotions," Bae said. "I have to go and I have only a few tournaments, and I will play really hard and work really hard." ... Ryan Palmer is playing with a heavy heart after his father, Butch, was killed in a car crash last week. "I can't put into words what it would mean (to win)," Palm said. "When I get inside the ropes, I get those four hours to not think a whole lot about it and really try to play golf with some peace and comfort."

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