For a few brief, shining moments last Saturday — there was Jason Day.
Yes, the long-missing former world’s No. 1 was in the thick of it going to the final nine at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Things were looking really good for J-Day when he turned back the clock and produced one of those incredible magic moments from days passed when he took dead aim from 117 yards out at the par four 14th a the tough Torrey Pines South Course and simply jarred it for an eagle-two that got him to 15-under par with just four holes to play.
It was looking like a trip back to the winner’s circle for the first time since the 2018 Wells Fargo.
Alas, J-Day fell backwards with bogeys at 16 and 17 and all a birdie at the 18th got him was a tie for third with Jon Rahm and Cameron Tringale.
But his performance offered hope and J-Day has himself offered hope with the statement that he’s now “pain-free.” He’s waged a long battle against injuries and injuries produce pain which is not conducive to good golf. “A big ball of stress,” is how J-Day termed the past few seasons. He was No. 129 in the world heading into The Farmers but jumped up to No. 83 this week.
Good news is he’s a name player and this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is very short on big names.
World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay is the big gun in the field and hopefully he’ll play well and bring some eyeballs to this starved field. Heck, even Korn Ferry Tour guys are skipping this week in favor of their own Tour’s even in Panama.
Good news at Pebble is that at least, the celebrities are back (if that is good news), the crowds will be back and so is the three-course rotation. Last year, the pandemic squashed everything and the Monterey Peninsula Club was eliminated since it was pros-only.
In addition to FedEx Cup-winner Cantlay and Day, there’s Farmers cut-missing Jordan Spieth, defending champion Daniel Berger, Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick (DP World staple) and hole-in-one-making Maverick McNealy.
Bad news came on Tuesday for Will Zalatoris. It was bad enough that he missed an eight-footer to win The Farmers then missed another from 12-feet to end the playoff with winner Luke List. Zalatoris has tested positive for COVID and was knocked out of the field meaning that now there are only nine players from the world’s top 50 in the field.
On the celebrity side, there’s Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen making his debut (he’d rather be playing football), along with country-star Darius Rucker, Jake Owens, Huey Lewis, Macklemore and Steve Young. Two acts growing old are those of Bill Murray and Ray Romano. Murray makes the slow play even slower with his stale antics and Romano’s stinky golf game proves that No One Actually Loves Raymond.
So the event created by the late, great Bing Crosby lives on in a morphed state. What used to be the “Crosby Clambake” is now a PGA Tour event with a great setting and a sub-standard field.
Funny how times change.
Paulina, Dustin Sent Out Incredible Wedding Invitations:
Looks like the nine-year engagement of Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky is coming to a glorious finale.
D.J. and Paulina have sent out these incredibly expensive and luxurious wedding invites to family and friends.
The invitations include some pricey brands of champagne. The wedding destination is the five-star hotel at Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.
The date is set, but hasn’t been reported but it will be later this year.
