Jason Day, Will Zalatoris tied at top at Farmers Insurance Open

SAN DIEGO – He grew a big, bushy beard, and has since gotten rid of it. He gained weight, and has since gotten rid of it.

RELATED: Full leaderboard | Will Zalatoris adds inch to driver and gains distance

Jason Day, 34, is still battling after a largely unproductive three-plus years in which he was at times unrecognizable.

Most importantly, he’s decided he still wants to climb the mountain again.

“It's just that you come from being the top of the world and then all of a sudden it kind of falls out beneath you,” Day said after shooting 5-under 67 to grab a share of the 54-hole lead with Will Zalatoris at the Farmers Insurance Open.

“… Even though I've had some good finishes here and there in the last three years,” Day continued, “it's been difficult to know that like, hey, do you want to keep pushing it, because it's painful either way. It's painful if I walk away, it's painful if I keep pushing on, so I just had to kind of suck it up. You've just got to understand that it's going to take a long time for me.”

Jon Rahm (72) is where Day used to be, at the top of the game. He loves Torrey Pines, where he won his first PGA TOUR title at the 2017 Farmers, and the 2021 U.S. Open, but has been just a fraction off through 54 holes. He’s 22nd in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, 14th in SG: Putting, and made a rare gaffe with a double bogey at the 10th hole in the third round.

And yet he’s right there.

“Every part of the game feels good,” he said after hitting 10 of 14 fairways and 14 greens in regulation Friday. “It just hasn't shown or manifested on the golf course. And I haven't hit the shots the way I wanted to, but everything does feel good and it's just a matter of happening. Sometimes it's one swing, one shot, one moment that tips the scales towards me.”

A word of warning: The last time Rahm felt this way – close, but unfulfilled – through three rounds at Torrey was at the U.S. Open last summer, and we all know how that turned out.

Even without Rahm on their heels, the two guys in the lead – who will play in a threesome with European Tour winner Aaron Rai (68) in a rare Saturday final round – will have plenty to think about.

Unlike Day, who has won a dozen times and reached world No. 1, Zalatoris, 25, is hoping to get in the win column for the first time. A premier ball-striker, he had absolute command from tee to green in a round that added up to 65 but included two missed birdie putts from inside 5 feet on the back nine. He also failed to birdie the par-5 18th hole.

Still, Zalatoris is focused on the positives, namely that he crushed his new, longer-shafted driver: 11 of 14 fairways hit, fourth in driving distance, and second in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee.

“Yeah, I've always had speed, but I literally texted J.J. from Titleist like three weeks ago and said, ‘Hey, just send me a 46-incher and let's just see what happens,’” Zalatoris said. “I had it the Tuesday before (The American Express in) Palm Springs and put it immediately in the bag.

“It's obviously been great, and I think today was the best driving day I've had maybe ever.”

It hasn’t hurt that Zalatoris has also gained somewhere between 10 and 15 pounds, in part by doing what he calls reverse intermittent fasting. He eats immediately when he wakes up, at around 6 a.m., and chows down unusually late dinners.

“I've never weighed 172 in my life,” said the normally rail-skinny Dallas pro, “and it's kind of nice, especially when we play as much as we do out here. I know dog days in the summer it's going to really pay off.”

Day has had so many dog days that when asked to describe his last three years, professionally, he said, “A big ball of stress.” He says he’s not far away, but admits it feels like he’s been saying that for three years. He’s worked hard on his body to be able to swing freely without re-injuring his back. He’s made dietary changes to reduce inflammation; a food-sensitivity test showed he was eating many of the wrong things, and he has shed 10 pounds.

His dedication yielded big results Friday, when at the long, par-5 13th hole in the third round, Day outdrove playing partners Ryan Palmer and Sahith Theegala, then reached the green in two with a towering 3-wood. He birdied. And while many might have been running on fumes late in the back nine at Torrey South, which played tough, Day closed birdie, birdie, birdie.

Still, he knows Saturday is a blank canvas, and that while he’s won the PGA Championship and THE PLAYERS Championship, and the Farmers in 2015 and ’18, none of that will matter. It won’t make much difference that he held off Alex Noren in a tense, six-hole playoff at Torrey South four years ago. The only material thing is committing to the shots, and hitting them, and staying out of his own head. Because the way to climb the mountain again is to not think about climbing the mountain again – at least not while he’s trying to get the ball in the hole.

But can he win?

“Yeah, yeah, very much so,” Day said.

He’s still the same guy. It’s still Torrey South. He’s not far away.