Sergio Garcia in position to make a final-day run at Byron Nelson

Can the Masters champ close the gap Sunday?

If Sergio Garcia’s second- and third-round scores are any indication, the two-time and defending AT&T Byron Nelson champion could roar into the winner’s circle yet again.

Garcia closed with a back-nine 29 on Saturday, including birdies on six of his final eight holes, to fire a third-round 64 and climb to fourth place, four shots back of leader James Hahn heading into the final round at the TPC Four Seasons course

“We still have a lot of ground to make up, though,” Garcia said. “And that’s partly because my first-round score (73) put me in that position.

“Early on when the lead was 10 under, I was on No. 6 or 7 and just thought if I could put a solid round together, I might have a chance at winning. But if the leaders shot 5 or 6 under, that would be really far away, so something happened in our favor.”

Garcia, however, did himself several favors Saturday.

After going out in even par, he started the back-nine rally with a birdie at the short par-4 11th.

Garcia hammered his drive just short of the putting surface and got up and down for an easy birdie to move to 1 under.

He made a 6-footer at No. 12, then an 11-footer on No. 13 before overcoming a forced layup on No. 14.

After a poor drive, Garcia played his second shot back into the fairway where he hit wedge from 113 yards and made a 6-foot putt to save par.

On No. 16, Garcia two-putted for birdie before wrapping up his round with a couple of 10-foot birdie putts on the closing holes.

60-foot putt

The roar heard near the hotel and clubhouse said hole-in-one.

But it was Jason Day’s 60-foot birdie putt that sent the crowd into a frenzy.

The putt temporarily put Day into the lead with Jason Kokrak and James Hahn, but the Australian and former Nelson champion sits tied for third, two shots back, after a third-round 63.

“Obviously, being my first professional win, I have a lot of good memories here and I haven’t felt this good about how I played since last year’s PGA Championship,” Day said. “It feels like everything just kind of clicked today, and I have a desire to get back there to No. 1 in the world, so the way Dustin’s playing, I’m going to need to work hard to get it done.”

Fading

World No. 1 Dustin Johnson had a rough go through the front-nine Saturday and mustered only a 71 to sit tied for 19th, seven shots back of the lead.

Johnson was just three back of 36-hole leader Jason Kokrak to start the day, but struggled to a front-nine 37 before rallying with three birdies on the back side and a 1-under 34.

The slide was a rarity for the 33-year-old since he assumed the world’s top spot after his victory at Riviera Country Club in February.

Easy does it

Thanks to passing storms and a more favorable course setup, the winds died down and the birdies came out in the third round.

The scoring average was nearly three full shots lower from Thursday’s first round at 69.2 and 278 total birdies (3.76 per player).

There were 453 birdies Thursday, but with 156 players, that was an average of just 2.9 per player.

From the 13 players inside the top 10 entering the final round, there were 19 birdies on the closing three holes and one eagle.

Those 13 players played the final three holes in 15-under par, including three players that closed with three consecutive birdies.

This story was originally published May 20, 2017 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Sergio Garcia in position to make a final-day run at Byron Nelson."