"Got to shoot a number."

That's what Jordan Spieth said Saturday at Bay Hill when asked what it would take for him to catch the leaders in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. 

Spieth wasted no time getting a circle on the scorecard Sunday, making birdie at the par-4 first hole with a putt of nearly 19 feet. 

He followed up with a birdie at the par-4 third, holing a 34-footer. 

Another birdie at the par-5 fourth set the stage for Spieth to please the crowd with a chip-in birdie at the par-4 fifth, capping a run of three birdies in a row. 

Following a bogey at the eighth and a birdie at the 10th, Spieth might've gotten away with one at the par-4 11th, where he immediately started walking after a par putt he clearly thought was going to miss the hole. He watched as it curled in the right side of the hole, grabbing his ball out of the bottom of the cup and all-but skipping to the 12th tee. 

Spieth added his sixth birdie of the day at the par-4 13th, and this one gave him the outright lead. 

Unfortunately for the former Longhorn, that was also Spieth's final birdie of the day. Bogeys at Nos. 14, 15 and 17 left him in the clubhouse at 7 under for the week, tied for fourth. 

"I wouldn't have hit any of the putts differently. I hit my line on every single one of 'em. I misread all four by just barely," Spieth said after shooting 2-under 70. "I didn't look at a board all day. I had no idea where I stood until I was on 17, then I needed to know like what you need to do.

"So I'm pleased to be back in the thick of things. I haven't really had a real lead on Sunday late in quite awhile, so it's nice to be able to kind of see where things are in those moments and learn from 'em."