Jason

Day

The oft-injured Aussie found the winner’s circle recently (AT&T Byron Nelson) but missed the cut at Oak Hill. As we’ve seen over the course of his career, it’s rare to see a prolonged stretch of good health and that narrative is popping up again. He told Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch that he’s dealing with a bone bruise in his wrist but that he still expects to tee it up this week. “I’m going to do everything I can to play.” Despite his local knowledge, Day has underperformed at Muirfield Village over the course of his career. He does have some good recent results, though, with a T7 at the 2020 Workday Charity Open and T4 at the 2020 Memorial Tournament.

The Aussie snapped a five-year winless drought last week at TPC Craig Ranch. The win was a long time coming as he was trending toward a victory for most of the year. While it’s great to see the big finish before a major, it also took a lot out of him. “Obviously a little bit tired. So I don’t know if that’s going to affect me preparation-wise. Well, I know that it will affect me preparation-wise, I just probably won’t be able to prepare as well as I need to. I know that I have to focus on making sure that I get enough rest today and get into it tomorrow.” He went on to say that he hasn’t played a practice round this week at Oak Hill and likely won’t play today, either. On the bright side, Day did play well here (pre-renovation) with a T8 at the 2013 PGA Championship.

The Aussie has been trending toward this win all season but had a slight setback with a rough finishing round at the Masters and a missed cut at Quail Hollow. He got back on track this week in a big way, gaining 10.9 strokes tee-to-green (1st) en route to 26 birdies (T1), erasing a trio of bogeys. “I’ve had a lot of injuries with my back, and for a moment there I thought I wasn’t going to play again, and just trying to get through those two years of just trying to get through a tournament was difficult. To be on the other side of it, be healthy, feeling good about my game, finally winning again, yeah, no better feeling, really.” Add to his story, this was also his first Mother’s Day since losing his mom last year. This win has been a long time coming and there is no reason to expect to him slow down anytime soon.

The Aussie had a bout with Vertigo in round four of the Masters and then returned to action last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. He was going along nicely but a late double bogey dropped him below the cutline. He didn’t let that bother him today as ranked 11th in strokes gained tee-to-green and 19th in putting. In his post-round presser he mentioned that he’s played whack-a-mole with different parts of his game not lining up on the same week but he’s flipped that narrative through 18 holes at TPC Craig Ranch. He’s searching for his first win since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.

The Aussie finished T39 in his most recent start, the Masters, but it was a closing round of 80 that left a sour taste in his mouth. He was T9 thru 54 holes before the poor finish. He revealed today that it was a bout with vertigo that day that made things difficult. “So last round of the Masters I had vertigo, so that was obviously not fun to play in that final round. We had to finish our third round Sunday morning and then I was sitting in the caddie hut and that’s when I got vertigo... I am under a lot more stress this year than what I was in previous years just because of where I am week in and week out. I’ve been playing a lot better so there’s obviously more stress and when you have more stress, your immune system can get compromised and for me it was just unfortunate that happened in the last round.” Day had posted eight straight top 20s before that week so there is plenty of good results on the form log ahead of this week’s event. Quail Hollow Club also happens to be the site of his most recent win, the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.

The Aussie was inside of the top 10 after each of the first three rounds last week at Augusta National. Then, he swallowed a closing, 8-over 80 to erase all of that work, ending in a share of 39th place. It could have been the extra holes required on Sunday due to the weather delays, or the cold weather, or something else entirely. Either way, Day has decided to rest this week instead of heading to Harbour Town. That’s not entirely shocking since he has just one top 20 in six tries at the event.

The Aussie split 10-of-14 fairways en route to 14 GIR on day one at Augusta National. “I had a lot of good looks out there for birdie early on, missed ‘em. I just couldn’t quite get the speed right at the start. I just kind of kept on blowing it through my, through the break. And then the back side things kind of started easing back into where I could see the ball go into the hole a lot better.” This hot start is likely not a surprise for anyone who has been following Day in 2023. He arrived with top 20s in six straight stroke-play events. He also has six top 20s on his Masters resume and could be on his way toward another.

The Aussie snagged a trio of top 5s in his first nine tries at the Masters but has missed the cut in his last two visits. Then last year he didn’t qualify and was left to watch the event at home on his television. Perhaps that provided a bit of motivation and now he finds himself back in the groove ahead of this week’s event. He’s twirled top 20s in six straight stroke-play events. “It’s definitely very special to be back here playing. It’s my favorite tournament to play in for the year. It’s great memories, from finishing second, my rookie Masters, to almost winning in 2013 when I had the lead with three holes to go.” Day is starting the week around 25/1 on the outright odds board.

The Aussie was slow out of the gate this week with a 1-over 72 but stormed out of the gate today with birdies on five of his first seven holes played. He piped 10-of-14 fairways in round four which was bettered by just six golfers today and put him in a position to attack the firm greens. Day’s Sunday 65 was one shy of the low round today (Will Zalatoris) and it vaulted him 17 spots to land inside of the top 10 on the final leaderboard. This continues a run of good form which includes finishes of T21 or better in eight of his last nine events. More importantly, he gets him to 46th in the OWGR which is a key number (staying inside of the top 50) if he wants to find his way back into the Masters field.

The Aussie arrived with top 25s in six of his last seven starts and he stayed hot in the Arizona desert. Day ended the week ranked top 20 in strokes gained off-the-tee, approach, and putting. “I feel that the swing is starting to feel a lot more comfortable. Which is good because at the start of the week I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my swing. I actually texted my buddy playing down in Australia. I said, My swing, I’m not really confident in it. I just kind of was grinding away and I finished 5th currently. But the putting’s nice. Short game’s looking really good. Good form going into next week.” Day is projected to jump from 30th to 24th in the early FedExCup race and he’ll look to maintain that momentum next week at the Genesis.