Jason Day shares what surprised him about the greens at Augusta on day three at The Masters

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Jason Day has admitted that he was left surprised by the greens on Saturday at Augusta National as he ended up finding himself back in contention heading into the final round of The Masters.

It seemed that Rory McIlroy had a second title all but wrapped up at the halfway stage at Augusta National. The Northern Irishman had a record six-shot lead after two rounds.

However, a disappointing day for the 36-year-old has opened the door for the chasing pack.

Jason Day says what surprised him about Augusta National on Saturday at The Masters

Jason Day is one of those who finds himself in the mix. The Australian began the third round at four under par, but now sits just three shots back.

Day struggled most once he reached the greens. According to Data Golf, the 2015 PGA Championship winner lost 0.32 shots to the field on the putting surfaces.

And speaking after the conclusion of his third round, Day explained why he found putting on Augusta’s pristine greens so challenging on Saturday.

“I think if they were a little bit firmer and faster, yes. But these greens, they were very receptive today. Yeah, they were very receptive today,” he said.

“It could have been a lot different. I expected to see it a little bit different than what I saw today. I mean, you were hitting shots in there that were spinning.

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“Typically sometimes you get to, you know, Saturday at Augusta and they’re bouncing. It’s really difficult to hold some shots.

“So I thought the green speeds were lovely. I thought the green firmness was great. It was very fair, and I think that’s why you’re seeing a lot of, like, decent scores out there, which brings in a lot of the crowd, which is great.”

He was then asked how shocked he was by the condition of the greens.

“I was more surprised about the green speeds. Like, you know, obviously we talked about it a little bit before that the greens are deceptive. They look firmer than what they are,” he said.

“It’s very playable, the green speeds. More so uphill, over slopes are a lot slower than you think, so you’ve got to give it a little bit more gas going up the hill.

“But yeah, the speed of the greens caught me off guard at the start, and then you just kind of settle in as the round goes on.”

Jason Day’s best ever score in the final round of The Masters

Day will hope to replicate Rory McIlroy‘s achievement from 12 months ago on Sunday. McIlroy had gone nearly 11 years since winning the PGA Championship before he won The Masters.

Day is on exactly the same run, having not won a major since triumphing at Whistling Straits in 2015.

The 38-year-old has previously teed it up in the final round at Augusta on 11 occasions during his career. He has, however, only managed to break 70 three times.

His best performance on Sunday came when Tiger Woods won in 2019. Day posted a 67 to finish in a tie for fifth.

Given how much quality there is on the first page of the leaderboard, you would imagine that Day is going to need to go even lower if he is going to clinch the Green Jacket.