Day on the beach shows Pebble aptly named

After his second shot at the par-five 18th ended on the beach adjacent to the green, Day scrambled down the small cliff to find his ball sitting on a bunch of pebbles.

The former world number one then grabbed a wedge and took a swing without even trying to get a yardage from his caddie. He was about 60 yards from the hole.

"I said I'm either going to play right now and man up or head back another 200 yards and play from (the same spot as the second shot) and I didn't want to do that. So I just went up and I guessed on the line," Day said.

He made clean contact with the ball, perhaps too clean, firing it over the green into a bunker, then got up-and-down from there to save par and preserve a share of second place, three strokes behind winner Ted Potter, Jr.

Day, who won at Torrey Pines two weeks ago, said he was happy with his play, even if there was room for improvement, and felt he might be able to rediscover his form from 2015 when he won four times in the final two months of the season.

"I feel like there's a lot of room for improvement," said the Australian. "My wedge play needs to improve, my iron play needs to improve.

"If I keep doing what I'm doing, finishing first and second in the first two events, but also cut out the blemishes, then hopefully it will be more like 2015." (Reporting by Andrew Both in Adelaide, South Australia; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)