A rough Day at the Open

Former No. 1 player misses cut for second straight year

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — It was by far the worst round Jason Day shot for the 2017-18 PGA Tour season.

His opening round of 9-over-par 79 at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Thursday was four strokes worse than any other round he played. That 75 came in the opening round of the Masters. Day recovered from that to tie for 20th place.

Day was unable to recover on Friday. He missed his first cut of the season after firing a second-round 73, finishing at 12-over after two rounds.

Day came into the event brimming with confidence.

“I love this golf course. I think they've done a great job with the renovations,” Day said. “I think they've done a good job with setting up the golf course as well. With the width of it, it doesn't look crazy, like, off the tee, it looks narrow. When you get on the fairways, it's very wide, or in some parts can be wide.”

Day, 30, had already won twice on the PGA Tour this season (Farmers Insurance Open in January, the Wells Fargo Championship in May) and always seemed to fare better on tougher courses.

In fact, Day agreed with someone who posed the question his game is best suited to win a U.S. Open despite already having won a PGA in 2015.

“I enjoy tough conditions because I feel like I thrive better under those conditions than, per se, an easier course where everyone can come in and play.” Day said. “I like the stressful part of trying to win a tournament, and I like the stressful part about just being in amongst, playing a tough tournament in front of a lot of people and trying to win a major.”

Interestingly, Day missed the cut in last year’s U.S. Open, too, and followed that up with another missed cut at the Travelers Championship. Day, the eighth ranked player in the world, will return to TPC River Highlands in Cromwell next week.

Day’s best finish ever at the Travelers is a tie for 14th place in 2014.

Once the No. 1 player in

the world on two separate occasions, Day is trying to regain that form and vault himself up the world rankings.

“I'd probably say a couple times a year where you're absolutely very pleased with how things are going. And the rest, you're just trying to manage.” Day said.

Julio Cortez / Associated Press Jason Day plays his shot from the 13th tee during the second round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship on Friday in Southampton, N.Y. Day missed his first cut of the season, finishing the Open at 12-over after two rounds.

Seth Wenig / Associated Press Jason Day reacts after playing his shot from the sixth tee Friday.