Barclays Golf 2015: Leaderboard Scores and Highlights from Saturday

With 18 holes left in the 2015 Barclays, Jason Day and Sangmoon Bae are running neck and neck atop the leaderboard. They share the 54-hole lead at 11 under for the tournament.

Right below them sits Bubba Watson at 10 under, while Ryan Palmer, Henrik Stenson and Zach Johnson are all two shots back:

Day wasted little time moving his way up the standings Saturday. He birdied the second hole and carded two more birdies over the remainder of the front nine. Capitalizing on his strong start, the reigning PGA champion then birdied Nos. 10 and 12. 

An 18-foot putt was all that separated Day from an eagle on 16; he promptly found the bottom of the cup to move to seven under on the day (via the PGA Tour):

A bogey on 17 knocked Day back a bit, but he regained that stroke with a birdie on 18 to close out his round.

Efficiency was the key to success for the 27-year-old. According to PGATour.com, he only hit eight of the 14 fairways but compensated by reaching the green in regulation on 15 occasions. He also averaged a little over 1.5 putts on each hole, his lowest number of the tournament.

Although Day will be one of the favorites to secure The Barclays title Sunday, it would be foolish to dismiss Bae's chances, a player who matched Day's seven-under 63 in the third round.

Like Day, Bae was excellent on the front nine as he picked up four birdies through the first seven holes. After making the turn to the back nine, the 29-year-old immediately lost a stroke, with a bogey on 10, but recovered well on the next hole, sinking a birdie putt on the par-three 11th hole.

Bae closed out his round with four birdies over the final five holes, adding to what has been a somewhat odd tournament for him so far in terms of scoring, per PGA Tour Media:

Great putting continued to be a trend for the South Korean. He leads the field in fewest putts per hole, per PGATour.com. His performance Saturday was particularly impressive as four of his nine birdie putts came from 20 feet out or more, according to the Tour:

This birdie on 15 demonstrates just how dialed in Bae was with his putter:

Bae will be an especially interesting golfer to follow Sunday given the outside factors impacting his professional career. At some point in the near future, Bae will need to serve his mandatory two-year term with the South Korean military.

Brian Wacker of PGATour.com wondered whether a victory might impact that development at all:

With the 2015 Presidents Cup in Incheon, South Korea, Wacker's suggestion wouldn't be out of the question.

"I really want to play in the Presidents Cup in Korea," said Bae on Saturday, per Nick Menta of GolfChannel.com. "That is my county. I hope to play good tomorrow, and [have] Mr. Nick Price pick me up."

But that event is still a little further down the road. In the present, Bae will not only need to better Day over the final 18 holes, but he'll also need to fight off Watson, Palmer, Johnson and Stenson, all of whom have a chance at taking The Barclays.

Watson was the 36-hole leader after finishing at seven under through the first two rounds. The two-time Masters champion not only had to deal with the difficult pin placements at the Plainfield Country Club on Friday, but he also had PGA officials watching him like a hawk after he went over his allotted time while lining up a shot on No. 16.

His third round played very similar to his first two in terms of his driving and approach play. Despite a somewhat pedestrian 50 percent driving accuracy, he reached 15 of the 18 greens in regulation.

When Watson reached the green, his game fell apart a bit. He actually lost almost a full stroke (-0.882) after swapping one of his irons for a putter. That figure will have to improve Sunday if he's to have a shot at winning the Barclays.

Given Watson's record when playing from behind, per Golf Channel researcher Justin Ray, he shouldn't have any problem doing just that:

Although he's only a long shot to win, Carlos Ortiz was one of the biggest stories on Day 3 of The Barclays. He rose 43 spots into a tie for seventh after shooting an otherworldly eight-under 62. According to ESPN Stats & Info, it's the second-lowest score in tournament history.

Angela Hamann of Golf Channel was blown away by Ortiz's consistency in the third round:

By the time he entered the clubhouse, Ortiz had a share of the lead. But the leaders were all yet to hit the course, so his time atop the leaderboard was short-lived.

Even if the 24-year-old is unable to duplicate this performance during tomorrow's final round, he all but certainly played himself into a nice paycheck this weekend.

With Ortiz added to the list of contenders, The Barclays is shaping up to have a thrilling conclusion on Sunday. Eight golfers are all within four shots of Day and Bae, and given the way scoring has gone, all eight have a legitimate shot at prevailing by the time all is said and done.