Day feeling good after impressive third round
Jason Day eyes his birdie putt on No. 18 during the third round of the 47th annual Memorial Tournament. Photo by Sam Fahmi/Columbus Wired.
Jason Day is one of those names that resonates in the world of golf. Especially within the central Ohio community.
Day, an Australian citizen who’s lived in the central Ohio area for over a decade, is a guy that the average golfer roots for because of not only the mystique he exudes as a former No. 1 golfer in the world, but just his overall down-to-earth personality.
And there was a glow about the world’s current No. 132 after his third round of the Memorial Tournament on Saturday afternoon and for good reason: he shot a four-under par, 68, which ties the sixth-lowest single round he’s ever had on Jack Nicklaus’s course.
“I caught fire early and then maybe I peaked too early,” he said with a laugh. “But overall it was a nice day, I played some pretty good golf.”
Day said he’s been feeling better lately, better than he’s felt in at least the last seven years. He’s been watching what he eats and follows a fairly strict exercise regimen.
“I do cold plunges, a sauna, I do everything I possibly can. The training is different, a lot different than what I used to do. Right now, my body feels good and it feels strong. But it just doesn’t feel like when I was No. 1 in the world, strong. I felt really strong then. So I’ve just got to be patient with it.”
Day shot a three-under, 33, on the front that included two birdies and an eagle, and shot a 35 on the back that included two more birdies. He finished the round with four birdies, two bogeys (one on each nine) and the eagle, which came on par-4, No. 3.
Lying 142 yards from the hole on the right side of the fairway close to the first cut would be a tough shot to even make it on the green for the average golfer. Now imagine your ball has landed in someone else’s divot and you have to hit out of it because PGA rules don’t allow for a golfer to move the ball out of someone else’s mark.
“I was talking to (playing partner) Martin (Laird) on the way down to my ball and I just started looking at my ball, and he’s still talking to me but I’m not listening to him because I see my ball embedded and I’m like, ‘OK, there’s no chance that’s my pitch mark.’”
Day said about one-third of his ball was in the mark and that’s typically not the kind of lie they practice hitting out of because it’s not an ordinary situation. So trying to figure out a way to even salvage the shot was dicey.
“I’m like, ‘OK, I’m going to back foot it a little bit, just chop down on it and hopefully it comes out decent.’”
He felt chipping out just short of the water, which runs between the front of the fairway and butts up against the front of the green, to try and get up-and-down wasn’t an option. Besides, he said, it’s a third-round Saturday and he was sitting tied-for 48th place. Why not get weird and go for the gusto?
“What was I, 50th in position? So I decided to go for it and luckily enough, it went in.”
As amazing as that shot was, it wasn’t the only good one he had for the round. The very next hole, par-3, No. 4, his tee shot went into the left rough between the two bunkers next to the green and sat a little over 82 feet from the hole.
He pulled out his wedge, stepped up and knocked it in for the birdie. He would birdie again on par-4, No. 6 after draining a 39-foot putt but bogeyed par-3, No. 8 after putting his tee shot in the left bunker and two putting from 41 feet out.
His next birdie came on par-4, No. 14 after sticking his second shot from the fairway less than four feet from the cup but was set back again when he bogeyed par-4, No. 17 when his tee shot went errantly left into the rough and his second shot fell short into the rough in front of the green. After duffing his third shot, which stayed in the rough, he finally put his fourth shot on the green. Even then, he was still more than 11 feet away for the bogey putt, which he managed to put down.
However, he would make good on the bogey when he stuck his second shot from the fairway on No. 18 to within seven feet of the cup and knocked it down for his final birdie of the afternoon.
As of this writing, Day is currently tied-for 21st place at three-under.