Your 36-hole leader at The Travelers is a surprise, a stunner, considering the back and other health issues that Jason Day has battled for the past three years.
On top of that, his putting had gone south until Friday at the TPC River Highlands where he fashioned an eight-under par 62 that got him to nine-under par — good enough for the solo lead at the halfway mark.
“I was fortunate enough to not really get in my own way today,” said Day, whose last top-three finish was also his last win on Tour — the 2018 Wells Fargo. “Hit a lot of good quality drives and my tee-to-green was pretty solid, I thought. Then holed a lot of crucial putts out there.”
D-Day’s field day came courtesy of a return to an old putter. Day went back to his TaylorMade Spider model, from the SIK putter he was using. This is Day’s first tournament reunited with the Spider since the PGA Championship, where he finished tied for 44th.
“Well, I tried the SIK putter and just going back to something that felt, I guess, a little bit more square to me,” Day said. “I was looking down at the putter and just wasn’t lining up correctly. To me, (the SIK) felt a little bit closed.”
Putting issues? Day ranks a lowly 121st in Strokes Gained Putting this season. He was 62nd last year and by in 2015 and 2016, he was first in that all-important category — second back in 2017 and 2018.
Day’s was No. 1 in the world back in 2015 after he won his only major — the PGA Championship. Over the past three seasons, it’s been a steady decline in performance and today he ranks N0. 71.
He withdrew from The Memorial thanks to a sore back and his only top 10 this season was at Pebble Beach.
“Yeah, the body is OK,” Day said after his best round in seemingly forever. “Just stiff. It’s sore to get onto the other side of the golf swing, so any time going left was a little bit sore.”
Day felt the stiffness in the lower right part of his back on Thursday after his range session. However, despite the soreness, he plans to pick up where he left off after his bogey-free Friday.
“Well, I mean, sometimes when you do have sort of an injury or stiffness, even if you’re sick, sometimes you can come out and play some good golf,” he said.
Day’s lead is just a single shot over Bubba Watson (66-66) and Kramer Hickok (63-69). Watson has a high comfort level on this track as he’s won three times.
Scoring has been low this week as the 36-hole cut came at two-under par.
