Day hardly feeling on top of the world
Maybe it was the recent subpar results. Perhaps it’s the minor flu bug he’s dealing with. It could have been the long night he spent at the hospital with his wife, Ellie.
Whatever it was, Jason Day didn’t sound like a player believing he had a big run in him at Baltusrol Golf Club over the next four days. He certainly didn’t talk like the top-ranked player in the world preparing to defend his PGA Championship.
“With the limited practice and limited prep that I’ve had this week, I’m not coming into this week expecting a lot,” he said Wednesday, less than 24 hours before he was set to tee off in a starstudded group with Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy at 8:30 a.m.
Day admitted he didn’t know much about the course — “I don’t know what it looks like,” he said — other than what he was told by Baltusrol head pro Doug Steffen at the PGA Championship Champions dinner Tuesday night. He didn’t even take a practice round after finishing tied for 14th over the weekend at the RBC Canadian Open, feeling the rest while nursing a cold was more important than the reps.
However, what was supposed to be an easy day turned difficult Tuesday night, when Day called 911 and went with his wife to the hospital because of an allergic reaction following the Champions dinner.
“She was kind of freaking out in the back of the bus, which is understandable, because she got all red,” the 28year-old Australian said. “We were there until 2 o’clock in the morning, something like that. So I’m kind of running on ‘E’ right now. She’s fine now. We got a little bit of loss of sleep, but we’re fine.’’
It’s been a difficult few months for Day and his No. 1 ranking could be in peril with a poor showing. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC Match Play and Players Championship all by early May, but he’s battled numerous health problems. He suffered from back spasms at the Dell Match Play Championship, but won the tournament anyway. He battled the flu at the Masters and had a cold at the U.S. Open. And now he has another cold, passed on by his children, Dash and Lucy.
Day said he thinks the time he spent with Steffen, the club pro, should help. They went over every hole, and the intricacies of the course. So at least he knew what to expect for his practice round on Wednesday and beyond.
“I’m going to try and go out there and digest it all, and if that helps, great,” he said. “I really have to go out there and try and find a game plan that works for me and making sure that on the tough holes, I feel comfortable, and the easy holes, I can take advantage of. And if I can do that, hopefully I’m there by Sunday.”
It would behoove Day to get off to a fast start, considering how poorly he has played early has contributed to him finishing no better than eighth in the first three majors of the season.
In the Masters, he shot an evenpar 72 — playing the back nine in 5-over — and was tied for 21st after the first round and ended up tied for 10th. At the U.S. Open, Day was never able to fully recover from a 6-over 76, eventually finishing tied for eighth. At the British Open, a 2over 73 resulted left him tied for 94th before he climbed his way back to finish 22nd.
“You’ve got to come out and fire on all cylinders and get yourself up the leaderboard,” Day said, “and show people that you’re there and you’re ready to win.”