Rory McIlroy again saves his round on the back nine at Sawgrass

Rory McIlroy was left to reflect on a week of two halves after completing his third round in the Players Championship on Saturday.

McIlroy produced a battling finish just to avoid a fourth missed cut in five appearances in the event, although scraping through on the mark of level par left the 25-year-old 12 shots behind halfway leader Martin Kaymer, who added a 69 to his course record-equalling 63 in the opening round.

It also meant an early start for McIlroy on Saturday and he again struggled on the front nine, making a bogey on the first, double bogey on the fourth and a bogey on the sixth before birdies on the seventh and eighth took him to the turn in 38.

As on Friday, the back nine came to the former world number one’s rescue and birdies on the 10th, 11th, 16th, 17th and 18th ensured a round of 69 and three-under-par total.

So far this week, McIlroy has taken 117 strokes on the front nine and 96 on the back nine, a difference of 21 shots at an average of seven per day.

Starting from the 10th in his opening round, the two-time Major winner was five under par after 11 holes before three late bogeys, while he covered the front nine in 42 on Friday before rallying with vital birdies on the 12th, 13th, 16th and 18th.

“If I had just kept it around even par for the front nine, I’d be up near the leaders,” McIlroy told reporters. “I’m really happy with how I’ve been able to come back the last couple of days, but it’s also a little frustrating that I’ve had to come back because I feel like I’m playing good enough to not have these little stretches of bad holes.

“Maybe tomorrow I can put it all together and start strongly and finish strongly like I have the last few days.

“I felt like I wasn’t playing as badly as the score was suggesting today. I’d hit five greens in seven holes and I was four over par. I hadn’t really done much wrong. I had three really big lip-outs on the front nine, but it was nice to see a putt go in on seven where I holed one from off the green, which was a bonus. I was in a decent frame of mind going into the back nine.”

Graeme McDowell could have done with some of McIlroy’s back nine game as he dropped five shots over the final five holes in a round of 77 that left him on one over with 18 holes to play.

Like McIlroy, World number two Adam Scott had also made the cut on level par after a second round of 67 and matched McIlroy's 69 to join the Northern Irishman on three under.

That kept alive Scott's hopes of overtaking Tiger Woods at the top of the world rankings with a top-16 finish, although the Australian spent more time afterwards answering questions about getting married in the Bahamas the week after the Masters.

American sensation Jordan Spieth had finished second at Augusta as he tried to become the youngest Masters champion ever and the 20-year-old was Kaymer's closest challenger as the third round progressed.

Spieth was the only player not to drop a shot in the first 36 holes and another four pars were enough to join Kaymer in the lead after the German three-putted the fourth.

However, Kaymer then birdied the sixth from 10 feet to regain his lead on 12 under, with Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood five off the pace.

Westwood had made a flying start with an eagle from just three feet on the second, but bogeyed the fifth and eighth either side of a birdie on the sixth to halt his charge.