The Open: Jason Day leads Australian charge at Royal Birkdale on 'moving day'
Last Updated: 22/07/17 3:23pm
Jason Day headlined an Australian charge up the leaderboard at The 146th Open as he made the most of the benign weather conditions at Royal Birkdale.
Day, the former world No 1, propelled himself to level-par for the tournament after carding a five-under 65 on 'moving day' in a blemish-free third round.
He joined compatriots Scott Hend and Marc Leishman in firing in the birdies as the professionals fought back after struggling against the elements on Friday.
Day, who won the PGA Championship in 2015, just made the cut at five-over after the opening two rounds but excelled in calm and sunny conditions and looked back to his best.
"I drove it much better," said Day after his third round. "I hit a lot of good iron shots and I holed putts. It's a lot more fun today.
"I honestly thought I missed the cut, that's why I stormed off. And I was like, this is going to be my third one in a row, and not the direction that I want to go into.
"But I got lucky and I got myself into the cut line and got off to a pretty solid start today and finished off strong."
Hend, who has two European Tour wins to his name, started with a bogey-bogey start to this third round but made two birdies before the turn, followed by an incredible run of five successive birdies on the back nine.
The 44-year-old, who also started the day at five-over, moved into a tie for 12th place by the time he finished his round.
"I think it's more today I was able to match the speed with my lines," Hend said about his putting which helped him jump up the leaderboard.
"The last couple of days I was either getting the right line and leaving it short or getting the wrong line and hitting - I just couldn't get the right speed to where I wanted to putt it to, and today we just managed to all of a sudden on the back nine there and in the front nine rolled a couple of putts in and it went well.
"I haven't done that the last four days around here and I actually holed a couple of putts. Once you start seeing your line, you can pretty much figure it out a little bit better."
Hend enjoyed having the opportunity to play alongside a compatriot and said it helped him remain positive during his round.
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"It's always great playing with another Aussie," said Hend. "And especially Marc hits it pretty pure, so it's nice to watch another guy that can actually shape the ball around and hit some good shots.
"It could have been negative if we both started hitting it really bad, it's just the way it goes. But we can have a nice chat about stuff and see what's going on. It's always nice to play beside and against a guy that you know."
Hend's playing partner, Leishman, who lost in a play-off at St Andrews in 2015 when aiming for his first major victory, was another player to excel as he shot a 66 to move up to one-over for the championship.
The 33-year-old, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year, mixed four birdies with two bogeys and an eagle at the par-five 17th.