Day happy to come in under the radar
It wasn’t long ago Jason Day was on top of the golf world, winner of his first career major title at the 2015 PGA Championship and ranked No. 1 in the world.
Entering this week’s Northern Trust at Glen Oaks Club, Day is ranked No. 9 in the world and No. 49 in the FedEx Cup standings.
“I feel like I’ve come into this week of the playoffs under the radar, which is nice,” Day said Thursday after shooting an opening-round 1-under 69. “I didn’t have any media [obligations] Monday through Wednesday. I was a sponsor’s pick for the pro-am. I’m like, ‘Whoa, what’s going on here? It’s been a long time since I’ve been one of those.’
“It’s humbling being in a position like this because I know I’ve had it good for a long time, and through some poor play this year, I haven’t been in the position that I would like to be. And [it’s] humbling in that I need to work a lot harder than what I’m doing right now. I’m working hard. Just have to let the work catch up and hopefully it does shortly.”
Day has been in good position to win the FedEx Cup playoff series but has been edged out by strong late runs from Billy Horschel in 2015 and Rory McIlroy in 2016.
“The last two years, I’ve had an opportunity to win the FedEx Cup, and someone’s either won or come from behind and won,” Day said. “It would be nice to be able to do that to someone, even though, you know, I’d like to be in a better position [than 49th]. I need to do that to get myself into [the] Tour Championship.”
Justin Thomas, who just won the PGA Championship two weeks ago, sounded like he was feeling a bit of a hangover after winning his first career major despite shooting a respectable 2-under 68 Thursday.
“That was a really weird round of golf I’d say,” Thomas said. “I had a really hard time getting focused and getting into it. I don’t know why, what the purpose was. I told Jimmie [ Johnson, his caddie], ‘Man, I’m having a hard time with this today and I need your help.’ He kept me in it and we tried to talk to our shots a little more.”
Dustin Johnson insisted two weeks ago at the PGA Championship his game was close to the impeccable form it was in entering the Masters before he hurt his back in a fall down some stairs. After Thursday’s opening-round 65 at Glen Oaks, he felt those words validated.
“[Thursday] was the first time it’s kind of felt, the golf swing, like I was in control, like I was leading into the Masters,” Johnson said. “I’ve been saying it’s close and I’ve seen signs of it, but [Thursday] was the first day where I felt like all day, I was really in control of the swing. I did everything really well. It’s the first time in a long time I’ve done that.”