Sergio Garcia carded his second consecutive round of 70 on day three of the US Open at Torrey Pines, to stay just in contention for the title.
After an opening 76 on Thursday, Garcia's chances appeared to be slim, but he fought back with a 70 on Friday and had three birdies and a bogey for another round of one under.
Garcia carded two of his three birdies on the back nine, including one at the 18th that gave him hope of making a charge in the final round.
"I felt like I played solidly, not great, nothing as good as yesterday," Garcia said.
"And unfortunately I didn't make a whole lot of birdie putts, but overall it was a decent round. I would love to have been probably two better, get it close to even par or around even par to have a little bit of a better chance."
Despite his disappointment at not going lower, Garcia believes he could still be in the thick of the closing-day drama.
"I guess it depends on what they (the leaders) do, hopefully somebody doesn't run away with it, but I think we'll finish somewhere around two under or so," he said.
"I think I can still manage to do something."
"Every time you shoot under par here you shouldn't be too greedy, I guess. Unfortunately I just had a bad start on Thursday. But I'm slowly coming back."
Garcia started his round Saturday with five pars before giving back a shot at the sixth. He collected another birdie at the seventh, his first of the day, before bogeying the next to make the turn at one over.
He did not drop a shot on the back nine and birdied 13 and 18 to climb a little further up the leaderboard.
"There's some good birdie chances if you drive the ball well," he added. There's good opportunities, but we'll see.
"When you're comfortable with your game, when you have confidence in your game you know you can come back," Garcia said.
"Obviously my putts are better, even though I didn't make a lot of putts, I definitely didn't miss a lot of the short ones you can miss in these conditions, and that's nice.
And I've just got to hopefully keep playing well tomorrow, roll some good putts in and see what happens.
"It's a US Open, it's not easy. That's why it's a Major, but I'm pretty happy and looking forward to hopefully having a good finish."
Buccaneers re-sign Stevens, release Gradkowski
DUO RENEW OPEN HOSTILITIES
Burgess works out at Raiders camp, Jordan sits
GARCIA SILENCES HIS CRITICS
