text: An unknown Englishman playing in his first PGA Tour event will have the chance to complete an unbelievable fairytale at the Shell Houston Open on Sunday and earn the most unlikely invitation to the Masters. Surrey-born Kelvin Day has only played a handful of events on the subsidiary circuit, the Web.com Tour but decided to enter qualifying for the Houston event. This is a real 36 hole lottery where 131 players were fighting for the final four spots. With two excellent rounds of 64, the 27-year-old finished tied first to earn his place – and how he has taken advantage. It was a decent achievement in itself to make the halfway cut, and it earned him a third round draw alongside two rather more famous Englishmen in Paul Casey and Justin Rose. Kelvin Day is three shots behind the leaders and remains in with a chance of making the Masters . Day, however, refused to be overawed as he put together a tidy, bogey-free scorecard to match the 68 shot by Casey and upstage Rose, who shot 72. Incredibly, that has left Day alongside Casey in tied sixth place, just three shots off the lead held, almost inevitably, by the remarkably consistent young American, Jordan Spieth. Realistically, a top ten finish would be a fine achievement for Day, which would earn him a place in the field for the tournament after the Masters, the Heritage in South Carolina. But it is worth bearing in mind that a victory would not only earn him a PGA Tour card but the last spot in the field for Augusta. Wouldn’t that be some story? Casey only learned he was in the field for the Masters himself last Sunday, and is continuing his welcome revival this season with another good showing. He is a former winner of this event and again showed his liking for the course. Record crowds descended on the Houston suburb of Humble to watch the great crowd pleaser Phil Mickelson, who began one off the halfway lead and the newest Texan golfing hero, Spieth. Jordan Spieth leads the way in Houston . But while the latter delivered with a 67 to lead the way on 14 under, Mickelson could only muster a 75 to tumble down the leaderboard. It’s amazing to think it’s only 18 months since Spieth was attracting heavy criticism for dropping out of college to take his place on the PGA Tour as the 809th ranked player in the world. While his former university classmates are studying hard for their final exams, 21 year old Spieth might be said to have passed his own particular exam with flying colours, since he has risen to fourth in the world and will go second behind Rory McIlroy should he claim this title on Sunday. He would also take his earnings over those 18 months to almost $12 million. Funnily enough, he’s not attracting criticism anymore. Spieth, watched by his parents and younger sister Ellie, hass a one stroke advantage over a trio of lesser-known countrymen – Scott Piercy, former Houston champion Jason Wagner and Austin Cook. ‘I’ve got a lot of friends as well as my family in the gallery and I shall certainly be trying to win for them on Sunday,’ said Spieth. If he did that it would be his fourth victory in his last nine starts and underline his status as one of the favourites to win the green jacket. Spieth finished runner-up behind Bubba Watson on his Masters debut last year. Like Day, 24 year old Cook is trying to write an astonishing story of his own. He just happens to be the Monday qualifier who tied Day for first place. As for Mickelson, his poor form over the past few months caught up with him on Saturday after opening rounds of 66 and 67 had raised hopes he was close to his best. The 44 year old fell apart over the closing stretch, registering four bogeys in his last five holes.
target: Kelvin Day, from Surrey, has played a handful of events on Web.com Tour .
  He entered the qualifying for the Houston Open and finished tied first .
  He then made the cut and is now three shots off the lead .
  Victory for Day would earn him a place in the Masters field .