Jason Day may simply be unstoppable.
The only thing that stopped him on Friday the 13th at the Players Championship was the sun setting over Jacksonville Beach.
After a weather delay that halted play just after 4 p.m., play resumed around 6 and Day settled back in, got himself to five-under for the day and 14-under through 32 holes.
When play resumes at 9:15 Saturday morning, all he has to do is play those final four holes one-under par, post a 66 and he’ll set the 36-hole scoring record for the event.
His card was clean, five birdies, nine pars. If he can find that birdie and post 15-under, he’ll enter the third round with a four-shot lead over Shane Lowry.
Earlier in the day, there were plenty of fireworks.
The course record of 63 was there for the taking.
The number 62 was easily there for portly Colt Knost and svelt Rory McIlroy.
It was there, staring at them, take me, put your name in the record book!
But alas, they were both unlucky.
Knost first.
All he did was get to 10-under par for the day after making birdie at the infamous 17th.
At 18, his second shot found the green, albeit about 40 feet from the cup. That made 18 straight greens in regulation for Knost, a former U.S. Amateur champion but a non-winner on the PGA Tour. His first putt left him just inside five feet.
“I was a little nervous on the second one,” Knost admitted afterward. “I knew what it was for.”
Alas, he missed and the three-put sent him into the clubhouse with a 63, a nice consolation prize. He was in at nine-under par and in the hunt going into the weekend.
“I hit so many good irons he said.”
All he needed was one more putt that didn’t come.
McIlroy was in a similar boat. He played the back nine first and shot a seven-under 29 to put him on the 59 watch.
But he cooled off big-time. He birdied the second and seventh and simply needed one more at the pedestrian par five ninth.
McIlroy not only didn’t birdie the hole, he made bogey and finished with 64 and will go into the weekend in solid position to contend for the title.
“I played well, the course was there for the taking. This course plays so different from morning to afternoon. I’m a little disappointed with how it finished.”
Even more disappointed was defending champion Rickie Fowler. He was one-under after 36 and missed the cut.
Jordan Spieth has four holes to play in the morning and he’ll need to play them in one-under par if he expects to make the cut.
