The Stadium Course at the Players Championship had enough after two days of birdies galore.
The scoring feast from Thursday and Friday turned into a scoring famine on Saturday and hit just about every player in the field, including Jason Day, the man who set the 36-hole scoring record, going 63-66 for his first two rounds.
Day’s second round ended early Saturday morning. He birdied his first hole of the day, the 15th and would turn in that 66. But things would change mightily in the afternoon.
Only six players in the field would break par. Miracle round of the day was the 65 posted by Ken Duke who played the back nine first, shooting one-under. He then went crazy on the front with five straight birdies starting at the third then he added a sixth at the ninth for a mind-boggling 30 on a day when the scoring average for the field was north of 76. Duke’s impressive round got him to 10-under par along with Hideki Matsuyama, who fashioned an impressive 67.
Joining them at 10-under was journeyman Alex Cjeka. All three will start Sunday four behind Day.
Day came back in the afternoon and undertook a five and a half hour round. They played in threesomes and went off both tees due to the second round finish early Saturday morning.
Day had a rocky first nine and a pair of double-bogeys put him four-over for his round after only eight holes. The double at the six came courtesy of a four-putt and the one at eight was the result of a buried lie in a bunker. After that, Day pulled himself together and played his final 11 holes three-under. He had a golden opportunity to get back to even par on his round at the par five 16th where he launched a 331-yard three wood off the tee then hit an eight-iron from 202 yards to just outside six feet from the hole. But he missed the eagle putt, finished par, par and shot 73 and stands at 14-under par.
Former Players champion Matt Kuchar best described the greens that had the entire field on the defensive all day. “The greens are just frightening,” he said.
Three putts (most of the field), four putts (Day) and even five putts (Sergio Garcia) made it one long, tough afternoon.
Duke was the only player to solve the puzzle of the glass-like speed. “I hit a lot of good shots and I made all my short putts,” he said. “They (the greens) are getting fast out there. I had a good feel all day.”
