Former World No. 1 Jason Day withdrew from the Wyndham Championship ahead of the second round, citing illness.
The 34-year-old Australian has plummeted to No. 140 in the world and hasn’t won since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship. He opened the regular-season finale of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup with a 3-under 67 at Sedgefield Golf Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, and entered Friday’s play in a tie for 23rd place, six strokes off the lead held by John Huh.
Day likely will be eligible for next week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, the first of three FedEx Cup Playoff events. Day entered this week at No. 115 in the points list, with the top 125 advancing to the first playoff event.
Day has developed a reputation for withdrawing from tournaments, often due to injury as his body has become increasingly brittle. In the grand scheme of things, illness should be of less concern than a back injury for his ability to tee it up next week. This marked the 12th WD of Day’s career and makes it four straight seasons in which he has withdrawn during at least one tournament. He also withdrew ahead of the John Deere Classic last month with a back injury.
Day, who won the 2015 PGA Championship among his 12 Tour titles, entered the Wyndham Championship having made the cut in seven of his last eight starts. He recorded just one top-10 finish this season, a tie for third at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, while surpassing $50 million in career earnings.
Adam Long also withdrew from the tournament before the second round, citing illness. Brian Gay withdrew following the first round with a wrist injury. He entered the week No. 184 in the FedEx Cup standings, but is fully exempt on Tour next season via his win at the 2020 Bermuda Championship.