Danny Walker got the opportunity of a lifetime when Jason Day withdrew ahead of The Players Championship, giving him one of the final spots in the tournament.He took advantage of it and made the weekend right on the number at 1-under after he shot a 2-under 70 on Friday.Walker and Shane Lowry began Round 3 of The Players bright and early on Saturday morning, and they both trailed the leaders Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia by 10 shots.The winds had not yet picked up, allowing him to jump 50-plus spots up the leaderboard and into contention. Walker signed for a bogey-free 6-under 66."Early in the round there wasn't too much wind so it was a little more scoreable," Walker said after his round on Saturday. "Probably really started picking up towards the end of the front nine, maybe 7 or 8."Walker made back-to-back birdies at the 2nd and 3rd to start his round. He added two more at the par-4 6th and the par-5 9th to turn in 32. The back was less scoreable for him, but the former Virginia Cavalier added two more to come home in 34 and keep a clean score card.He picked up +7.815 strokes gained total in Round 3 and went 5-of-5 scrambling, which will be one of the most important stats in this weather.Walker saw an opportunity present itself Saturday morning and he ran with it."Once you make the weekend it's easy to free it up because you don't have anything to lose," he explained. "I can't go backwards — you can only move forwards at that point. I played really well the last 10 holes or so yesterday to finish the round. I was able to keep that ball-striking momentum going into today."The Players is a must-play event for the guys who live in the area.Thanks to Day, Walker finally made his debut, and now he has an opportunity to do something special."I've wanted to play this event my whole life, especially like the last several years living in Jacksonville," Walker said. "This feels like my hometown event in a lot of ways. Especially watching it last year, watching some of my friends play, I just wanted to get in this year so much. Then actually getting in— it's just an accomplishment of a goal. A big goal."By the time Walker finished his round on Saturday, he was just four shots off the leaders. He could gain an even bigger advantage if the wind continues to give players issues on TPC Sawgrass this afternoon.His 7-under total score could be a good number heading into Sunday to potentially do something special.More Golf: The PLAYERS: Biggest PGA Tour Names to Miss the Cut at TPC Sawgrass