Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Defending champ gets 1 day to prep

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dinner. I went through pretty much every hole with him for about 20, 30 minutes, kind of going over all the holes. I’m going to try and touch them all today, but obviously the prep’s been a little on the lighter side. So I need to come in and try to get a good, solid 18 holes in today so I kind of know where I’m going.”

Day’s plan always had been to take Monday off. Tuesday became a day of tending to a sick family and himself.

“[My children] Dash and Lucy are sick right now, and kind of Dash passed that on to me a little bit,” Day said. “I’m OK. I’m fine. I’m just a little bit under the weather. [His wife] Ellie had an allergic reaction [Tuesday] night and had to go to the hospital. We were there until 2 o’clock or something like that. So I’m kind of running on ‘E’ right now. She’s fine. Everything was great.”

Day, 28, of Australia, has eight wins in 2015 and 2016, but he hasn’t had a good first round in any of the majors this year, which makes his having two top-ten finishes in them all the more impressive.

He shot a 72 to start the Masters and was able to finish tied for 10th. At the U.S. Open at Oakmont, he started with a 76 and rallied to finish tied for eighth. At the British Open he started with a 73 and finished tied for 22nd at Royal Troon.

“I think there’s a little bit of expectatio­n obviously on my shoulders; that I’ve got off to a great start this year. You’ve got to come out and fire on all cylinders and get yourself up the leader board and show people that you’re there and you’re ready to win,” he said. “I think if you try a little bit too hard sometimes, you can kind of shoot yourself in the foot. I think that’s what I did in the first two majors.”

Since the PGA went to stroke play in 1958, only Tiger Woods has repeated as champion, in 2006 and 2007. Besides chasing Woods, Day is also trying keep that No. 1 ranking he claimed after winning the World Golf Championsh­ips-Match Play in March. He could lose it this week if things fall right between himself and U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson.

“It’s definitely important. I really want to obviously finish No. 1 in the world at the end of the year,” Day said. “But I think the biggest thing for me is to really understand what I need to do to win each week, or get myself into contention. Because the hardest part is obviously trying to stay consistent for so many years; it’s very, very difficult. I think the last guy we had was Tiger Woods that was very consistent. Each week that he played, he was pretty much in contention.”

 ??  ?? Defending champion Jason Day sizes up a shot Wednesday.
Defending champion Jason Day sizes up a shot Wednesday.

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