BY STEVE KEIPERT at ROYAL MELBOURNE

Australia is poised for individual and team glory with one round remaining at the ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf, having forged into the lead in both sections of the tournament.

World No.18 Jason Day shot the equal-best round of the day to take a one-stroke lead over midpoint leader Thomas Bjorn as Day and Adam Scott clawed one shot ahead of the American pair – Matt Kuchar and Kevin Streelman – in the team competition. The Japanese duo are a distant seven strokes behind as perhaps the only other side with any hope.

Jason Day shares a lighter moment with his caddie, Col Swatton, during the third round of the World Cup of Golf. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES.

Day moved into the frame with a patient 66, cementing his reputation as a tough-track specialist after his results at the majors in the past three seasons. A day after indicating the greens at Royal Melbourne's Composite course were bordering on unfair, he waited for birdie opportunities to come, picked them off when they did and diligently gathered pars elsewhere. He's made just four bogeys in three rounds on a course where half-errors are generally producing dropped shots – often in multiples.

"You just have to stay patient," Day said. "A course like this, you can't let the course beat you up too much. If you let the course beat you then you start getting frustrated and you make mental errors. So tough courses like this you have to stay very patient within yourself, you have to communicate well with your caddie ... staying fully committed to the shots.

“I just like playing difficult golf courses. That's what I do better at. Easier golf courses, I feel like it's more of a putt-a-thon and anyone can kind of get around an easy golf course. That's why I find I play better at difficult golf courses because you really have to grind it out."

Scott was solid if unspectacular in compiling a second straight 68 to move to two-under-par and within seven strokes of the lead. He carded five birdies against two bogeys and can't be discounted entirely.

Adam Scott's ball-striking remains solid but he will need to hole some putts to catch the leaders in the final round.PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

"I've been saying there's a really low round in me and it hasn't come out yet. I'd like to find it tomorrow," Scott said.

Overnight leader Thomas Bjorn was likewise steady in the third round although has lost his lead. He birdied the first hole but found red figures difficult to come by thereafter, shooting an even-par 71 to start the final round a stroke in arrears.

Denmark's Thomas Bjorn cracks a smile after making birdie at the 1st hole of the third round. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

The ultra-consistent Kuchar carded one of only two bogey-free rounds to sit in third place, three shots behind Day. Given the course knowledge he has acquired at Royal Melbourne in the past fortnight, Kuchar will begin Sunday as one of Day's primary threats as he is so ruthlessly efficient in all departments of the game.

Another big mover was Italian Francesco Molinari, whose 66 vaulted him into fourth. With compatriot Matteo Manassero in second-last place, Molinari can focus purely on the individual section of the tournament with one round remaining.

Mother Nature soothed the baked Composite course greens overnight and early this morning with a series of short, sharp showers, yet Royal Melbourne's capricious nature remained on full display on a fluctuating Saturday, a fact best illustrated by the field's lone Welshman. Stuart Manley birdied the first two holes before holing an 8-iron for an ace at the par-3 3rd, for which he thought he'd won the sparkling new Mercedes-Benz sitting at the rear of the tee (but the car is only up for grabs in the final round). Manley's elation was short-lived on two counts, however, as he butchered shot after shot on the 4th to card a septuple-bogey. His third-round scorecard began: 3, 4, 1, 11, 3, 3 as that single, miserable hole dropped Manley from second place to equal 16th.

He recovered remarkably to shoot a 72, good for eighth place alongside Scott.

"It is probably the highest high and the lowest low." Manley said. "I had some good chances after that and I just [had to] keep plugging away, and obviously made an eagle at 15 ... If somebody had said you would have been two-under at the end, after an 11, I would have taken it."

Welshman Stuart Manley celebrates his hole-in-one at the 3rd hole. He made an 11 at the next hole to bring him back to earth. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES

Manley's mayhem underlined a sometimes macabre day at Royal Melbourne. German Maximilian Kieffer suffered a one-stroke penalty on the 9th hole when he dropped his club, which struck and moved his ball.

Graeme McDowell, who for two rounds felt his love for the Composite course was unrequited, finally found the way to her heart by carding the day's other bogeyless score. The Northern Irishman improved to three-under and sits at the outer limits of contention, six strokes behind Day. Conversely, Kevin Streelman, the American fulfilling a golf architecture junkie's dream of playing Royal Melbourne for a week, struggled to a 74 to drop from second place to fifth.

If the final round is as topsy-turvy as today's, Day won't have it all his own way on Sunday and galleries and viewers will be treated to a thrilling climax.

LEADERBOARD

1. Jason Day (Qld) 68-70-66–204

2. Thomas Bjorn (Den) 66-68-71–205

3. 
Matt Kuchar (US) 71-68-68–207

4. 
Francesco Molinari (Ita) 75-67-66–208

5. 
Kevin Streelman (US) 66-69-74–209

T6. 
Graeme McDowell (N.Ire) 72-71-67–210

T6. 
Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 72-67-71–210

T8. Adam Scott (Qld) 75-68-68–211

TEAM LEADERBOARD

Australia 11-under

USA 10-under

Japan 4-under

Denmark 2-under

Canada Even