DAY IN THE SWING FOR MASTERS
Jason Day has declared his troublesome neck and back issues are as good as they can be heading to Augusta after a final day fade- out in Houston that cost the Aussie a first win in two years.
The former world No. 1 went into the last round of the Houston Open a shot off the lead but had to settle for a share of seventh, six shots behind the winner, Carlos Ortiz, after a closing
round of one- over- par 71.
Day has been copping questions about his health ever since his withdrawal from the CJ Cup last month, only one hole into the final round, after hurting his neck.
He has now completed two full tournaments since retuning and, despite conceding he had to “balance” practice and playing, as well as working on a swing change while also catering to his physical issues, Day said he’d had no recent pain and
would hit the Masters this week as well as he could hope.
The 32- year- old has three top- five finishes in his eight starts at Augusta, including a tie for fifth last year.
Day said he was feeling “pretty good”, adding “I just try to balance out the body, and I feel pretty good overall. No pain.
“The form’s been inconsistent obviously because I’m trying to change my swing a little bit just to try to help the back out. I guess I’m stuck
in between patterns right now. What I want to feel, my body just won’t handle it and sometimes it just compensates elsewhere.
“That’s why it happened to my neck at CJ. I’ve just got to be very smart about certain shots that I want to try to hit because if I do it over and over again, sooner or later something goes wrong, and that’s why you see a little bit of inconsistency there.
“I’ve just got to be patient with it and just try to work through it.”