Day’s minimal practice pays off
Fires first-round 68
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — Maybe Jason Day should play every course blind.
That’s about what he did yesterday after playing only one practice round at Baltusrol before teeing it up in the first round of the PGA Championship. That lack of recon didn’t seem to concern him much though, finishing with a 2-under 68 that was 3 shots back of leader Jimmy Walker.
“If you practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday you could be pretty tired with how hot it was,” Day said. “You can get pretty drained pretty quickly. I’m glad I took Monday, Tuesday off even though I’m a little bit under the weather.
“It was kind of a blessing to come out, play 18 holes real quick and then get out of there.”
Much of the reason Day missed his normal practice rounds was that he, his wife
Ellie and their two children were all sick, a condition he called “speed bumps that you have got to try and slow down and get around. Come out and execute.”
That he certainly did.
Dustin dusted
Dustin Johnson entered the 98th PGA Championship as arguably the hottest man in golf. Yesterday was no different, but the place he was hot was under the collar.
Johnson has two victories this season, including the U.S. Open, and 10 other top-10 finishes. A week ago he nearly won the Canadian Open, so naturally much was expected of him this week. What was not expected so much from him was strokes, 77 of them to be exact.
Johnson’s 7-over 77 left him 12 shots behind leader Walker and very likely headed to the weekend off. He had twice as many double bogeys (two) as birdies (one) and ended up tied for 143rd, ahead of only five players.
After pars on the first two holes, Johnson double bogeyed the third hole and seemed to fall apart. He bogeyed three of the next four holes, double bogeyed No. 11 and crawled home on the two closing par 5s with a par and a bogey.
Fowler in flight
After a disappointing season in the majors, Rickie
Fowler posted a 2-under 68 to put himself in the PGA mix just as the golf world was beginning to ask “What’s wrong with Rickie?”
Fowler was well aware of that. He’s also aware that the three previous major champions this year were all firsttime winners. He would like nothing better than to continue that streak, one that he said had given him hope that his time will come.
“It says that I’ve got a chance,” Fowler said. “Obviously, those guys played well to do what they did. Everyone that’s in the field tees it up to go win. I’m here for the same reason.
“I like my chances. I’ve been swinging it well and heading in the right direction. It’s nice to get off to a solid start. Anything can happen this week.
“You never want to go out the first round and put yourself behind the 8-ball. Obviously then you can’t win. It’s said a lot that you can’t win a tournament on Thursday but you can lose it. You can take yourself out of the tournament.”
Fowler has done that several times this year but not this week.
“Missing cuts is no fun,” Fowler said. “You don’t have to sugarcoat it. The middle part (of his season) wasn’t very good. Out here at the highest level, if you are off just a little bit, especially in a major, it picks you apart and it shows.”