Jason Day begins making his run on a drier Oakmont layout

For a while there, Jason Day’s name was lumped in with the list of top golfers — the McIlroys, the Mickelsons and the Fowlers — tanking the early rounds of the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world shot a 6-over 76 in the first round, a showing he described as “terrible.”

“I felt like I drove it pretty good in the first round and then missed too many greens, especially with short clubs, and a couple three-putts in there as well,” Day said.

His second round, a 1-under 69, was better, but at 5 over after two rounds, he was tied for 45th overall and made the cut by just two strokes.

Then came the third round. Day attacked a drier Oakmont with a vengeance Saturday afternoon, making four birdies in his first five holes of the third round — the par-4s Nos. 10 and 14, par-5 No. 12 and par-3 No. 13.

He was buoyed by 9- and 20-foot putts on the 10th and 14th holes, a strong approach on No. 12 and a nifty tee shot on the short 13th. Those four birdies equaled his total from the first two rounds.

Those were his only birdies, but he negated two bogeys on the back nine with an eagle on the par-5 fourth. As he climbed the leader board, the Australian golfer left the fellow members of his grouping, Chris Wood and Bill Haas, behind. In all, he had one eagle, four birdies and two bogeys to end the round with 4-under 66.

“I was trying to push forward today,” he said. “My mindset on the first day was a little — just I felt cloudy, felt like I wasn’t sure of the clubs I was hitting. I had a lot of clubs that were in between the first round. The second round felt a lot better. Obviously, today, I kind of started firing not on all cylinders, but started firing at my target and felt really good about my swing.”

“Shoot anything under par here, you’re definitely moving up a lot,” he said.

He had hoped to get to par by today and didn’t quite get there, but at 1-over overall, six strokes behind current leader Shane Lowry going into today, he came close.

“Even par was the final score for me that I was trying to reach,” Day said.

“I think Shane’s playing some pretty good golf now. But I can’t be aggressive out there and making silly mental errors.”

Despite that goal, he still kept his eye on the leader board, with the hopes of seeing his name on it. “I tend to watch the scoreboard a lot,” he said.

“I think just seeing those guys, it makes me want to chase that score a little bit more. Obviously, to a certain degree, you have to be patient. But also, I was holing some good putts out there and had momentum on my side.”

They didn’t. At least not Saturday, which means Day has “got to try to do some catching up” today.

“The first round kind of killed me here,” he said.

“But hopefully, I give myself an opportunity [today]. I just wanted to play hard and fast for it, and I think the harder the better, like a normal U.S. Open Sunday should be. I think it would be fun for everyone. Even though it is hard and stressful, I just enjoy those times.”

Elizabeth Bloom: ebloom@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1750 and Twitter: @BloomPG.