LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Instead of running away from the field one more time, Jason Day spent most of the third round at the BMW Championship running in place.
He was hardly the only player Saturday struggling to cope with the suddenly cool, wet and windy conditions at Conway Farms left behind by a wave of overnight storms. After opening rounds of 61 and 63, Day made his first bogey in 20 holes at No. 6, then piled on three more to offset a half-dozen birdies en route to 2-under 69, which still gave him a six-stroke lead at 20-under 193.
"Obviously, the most difficult round that we've had this week by far," Day said. "I think a lot of players really understood how hard it was. It was very difficult to get anything going."
Day's lead was one shot better than he had at the start of the round and the biggest cushion any 54-hole leader has had on the PGA Tour this season. His 193 set the low mark for 54 holes at the tournament — the third of the tour's four FedEx Cup playoff events — breaking by four the record that had been held by Camilo Villegas (2008), Tiger Woods (2009) and Billy Horschel (2014).
Though the pack pursuing Day got no closer, there was reshuffling. Scott Piercy overcame shaky play early to shoot 67 and move up from a tie for fifth into second. Also at 14 under was Daniel Berger (70), one of the few players who held his ground from Friday.
Brendon Todd, who played in Day's group Saturday, made a triple-bogey 7 at No. 4, bogeyed the next two holes and never recovered en route to a 76 that dropped him from a tie for second with Berger into a tie for 18th at 8 under.
World No. 1 Rory McIlroy shot 67 to climb from a tie for ninth to third place alone at 13 under.
"The tournament is in Jason's hands right now," McIlroy said. "He needs to come back to the field a little bit."
Europe keeps lead in Solheim Cup
ST. LEON-ROT, Germany — Lexi Thompson and Cristie Kerr earned a point for the United States to trail Europe 8-5 in the Solheim Cup before the other three fourball matches were suspended due to bad light.
The American duo defeated Spanish pair Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz 3 and 2 after Europe took an 8-4 lead from the morning's foursome matches and the completion of two fourball matches that had been suspended when play was called Friday because of darkness.
In the morning foursomes, England's Charley Hull and Norway's Suzann Pettersen recovered from 4 down to win 1 up against Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel. Creamer and Pressel were 4 up after the 11th hole, but the Europeans birdied the next hole and finished with four straight birdies. "This one was a robbery," Petterson said.
Germany's Sandra Gal and Scotland's Catriona Matthew then defeated Seminole's Brittany Lincicome and Angela Stanford 1 up.
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Explore all your optionsThe event, set back by a weather delay Friday, was scheduled to end today with 12 singles matches after the suspended fourball matches. Europe needs 14 points to win; the United States needs 141/2.