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Video: Thatcher birdies No. 18 at Xerox Classic | Thatcher's scorecard

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- For the past two weeks the carrot, with all the prestige, perks and golden opportunities that come with it, is dangling so tantalizingly close to Roland Thatcher that he can't open his eyes without seeing it and fantasizing about it.

Roland Thatcher used only 24 putts in Round 3. Three of those came on the first hole. (WireImage)

"I have so much added incentive,'' Thatcher said. "I feel like it's important to finish out the year strong.''

If Thatcher, the Nationwide Tour's money leader and a two-time champion in 2007, has many more days like he did in Saturday's third round of the Xerox Classic he'll have no worries. Thatcher blistered the 6,720-yard, par-70 Irondequoit Country Club course with a six-under-par 64 that helped him climb over 28 players and thrust himself into the hunt with 18 holes remaining. He is solo sixth, five strokes behind James Driscoll, who will be sleeping on the lead for the third consecutive night.

Thatcher's 64 wasn't just your every day, pedestrian number. Far from it.

He began the unseasonably cool morning with what he called a "horrifically bad'' and a "giant mess'' double bogey on the 415-yard, par-4 first hole where he three-jacked from 10 feet after plugging a 9-iron approach in a greenside bunker. He quickly erased the mistake with short birdie putts on the second and third, but he gave one back when he missed a four-foot par saver on the long, par-4 seventh.

Then Roland went on a serious roll when he reversed the negative momentum with important birdie from 10 feet on the eighth. The roll didn't stop until he tapped in a no-brainer birdie from a foot on the closing hole. In a word, he was unconscious.

That's what happens when you one-putt the last 11 holes, are dialed in with your laser-like iron approach shots and need just 24 putts for the round, including that aggravating three-putt on the first. When Thatcher added up his score for the back nine he came up with a how-low-can-you-go 29. It was two strokes lower than the previous best in three Nationwide Tour events held at Irondequoit and 7 ½ shots better than the field average through the first 36 holes.

"That doesn't happen too often on a golf course of this caliber,'' Thatcher said. "It really doesn't have a stretch of holes where you feel like you can make a whole lot of birdies.''

Yet Thatcher nailed six in a torrid eight-hole stretch. The performance raised eyebrows across Irondequoit's rolling hills.

"Who shoots 29 on that nine holes of golf?'' Scott Gump asked incredulously when Thatcher's scorecard flashed on the television screen in the player's dining room. "Man! That might be the greatest nine holes ever played.''

This much is certain. Thatcher, 30, has been playing great golf all season. His player-of-the-year credentials -- two victories, a playoff loss, five top 10s and 12 top 25s in 19 events -- speak loudly for themselves. He leads the money list by almost $94,000 over Jason Day and is third in the tour's All-Around statistic, which combines a player's standing in each category.

To Thatcher, the most telling are putting average, where he is tied for 14th, and putts per round, where he is tied for seventh. They represent quantum leaps for a player who was chased off the PGA TOUR twice because of his inability to get the ball in the hole.

"I've always been a good ball striker and a very, very poor putter,'' said Thatcher, who owes him improvement to work done with short-game guru Stan Utley. "Now I'm an above average putter and I can putt great from time to time.''

And the flat stick is why the carrot dangles there. It represents two things, a pair of goals that, like the carrot, are within Thatcher's reach. A third victory would give Houston resident an immediate promotion to the PGA TOUR, where he would receive full membership, meaning he would not be subject to the shuffles that dragged him down in 2004 and 2005. He also can reach that goal -- and the same status -- by maintaining his lead on the money list.

"Either one of those is reasonable,'' Thatcher said. "That's where my entire focus is.''

Thatcher spoke confidently, with the air of a player who stepped into the zone sometime around 10 a.m. EDT Saturday and remained there well after his incredible back nine concluded.

"I just felt so comfortable,'' he said. "Everything was flowing.

"People have asked me if I feel nervous at times like that. It's just the opposite. You know you're not going to make a mistake. You're going to have opportunities no matter what. It feels exactly like golf is supposed to feel.''

Whether or not Thatcher can maintain that feeling overnight is another question. But at least he won't be out with the dew sweepers like he was Saturday. It was 52 degrees when Thatcher stuck his first peg in the ground Saturday at 8 a.m., a little chilly for a Houstonian used to smothering heat. The forecast calls for the temperature to dip to 49 around sunrise Sunday.

"That's what it might take to win,'' Thatcher said jokingly of the projected morning low as the leaders began the third round. "That or I'm going to need some help. But I did just about everything I could today.''