Golf-Day finishes strong to share Barclays lead

PARAMUS, New Jersey, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Jason Day, proud of how he handled his nerves, rebounded from a double-bogey at the 13th with three birdies in the last four holes to grab a share of the lead after the third round of The Barclays on Saturday. The Australian signed off with a 10-foot birdie putt at the last to card a three-under 68 at Ridgewood Country Club, finishing level with American Jim Furyk (69) at nine-under 204 in the opener of the PGA Tour's four-event FedExCup playoffs. Hunter Mahan (68) was alone in third at eight under, a stroke in front of seven players who included fellow Americans Matt Kuchar (68), Kevin Chappell (71) and Cameron Tringale (72), the latter who shared the second-round lead with Australian Adam Scott. World number two Scott endured a frustrating day on the challenging A.W. Tillinghast layout where danger was ever present because of thick rough and slick greens, struggling to a 75 to slide five shots of the pace. World number one Rory McIlroy, on a blazing three-tournament winning streak that included major triumphs in the British Open and PGA Championship, was level with Scott at four under after carding a 70. Day, who clinched his second PGA Tour career victory at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in late February, was especially delighted with how he responded to his damaging seven on the 13th hole. "I am very proud of how I handled my nerves today," the 26-year-old told CBS Sports. "With the double-bogey on the par-five, I could have lost it but I kind of stuck in there and played some good golf coming in. "It was an interesting day. I got off to a great start and then the back nine happened and the par-fives happened." Day bogeyed the par-five 17th after ending up in a greenside bunker with his second shot, though he sandwiched that hiccup with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 18th. "It's a little frustrating just thinking about it because those are the holes (the par-fives) you want to take advantage of and I clearly lost shots to the field there," he said. The top 100 players on the FedExCup points list after The Barclays qualify for next week's Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston where the leading 70 will advance to the Sep. 4-7 BMW Championship. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry)