SAN FRANCISCO – Hindered by an assortment of injuries since his reign as the best player in the world back in 2015 and 2016, Jason Day has struggled at times to keep his spirits up while his body’s well-being has been down.
Chief among his pains have been chronic back issues that have forced him to miss tournaments and severely cut into prep work in the weight room and on the practice ground. After winning 10 PGA Tour titles from 2013 through 2016, he’s won twice since – both coming in 2018. In 32 starts since the onset of 2019, he doesn’t have a top-3 finish. Earlier this year fell to No. 63 in the world and he recently he split with mentor and longtime coach, Collin Swatton.
But heading into the first major of the year, Day awoke and his body healed a bit. In his most recent three starts coming into this week’s PGA Championship, Day posted ties for fourth, sixth and seventh.
Now he’s at the top of the leaderboard alongside a resurrected Brendon Todd after the first round of the 102nd PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.
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“There was definitely a lot of momentum coming in off the previous finishes that I’ve had,” said Day, who won this championship in 2015, his lone major. “The game feels like it’s coming around. I’m pleased with it.”
Day shot a bogey-free, 5-under-par 65 while Todd, a two-time winner this season, negated his two bogeys with seven birdies. The two were one shot clear of a group that includes four-time major champion Brooks Koepka, two-time major winners Martin Kaymer and Zach Johnson, and 2013 U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.
Todd is riding some momentum, too. He’s held two 54-hole leads in the last four tournaments before falling back in the final round. But he has risen from the abyss with two wins in the fall after contemplating quitting the game a couple years back as he battled driver yips and missed 37 of 41 cuts. He has missed the cut in four of the eight majors he’s played, with a tie for 17th his best finish.
“I don’t really compare rounds, but it was one of my better rounds today,” Todd said. “I have a lot of confidence. I’m playing the game of golf really well, not a lot of golf swing going on. That’s the key for me.”
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Koepka has won four of the last 10 majors he’s played and is trying to become the first to win the PGA Championship in three consecutive years since the tournament went to stroke play. Koepka has battled a left knee injury for more than a year (he had a stem-cell procedure last September) but looked fit and his usual powerful self in the first round.
“It’s only 18 holes right now. I feel good. I feel confident,” Koepka said. “I’m excited for the next three days. I can definitely play a lot better, and just need to tidy a few things up, and we’ll be there come Sunday on the back nine.”
Tiger Woods, seeking his fifth Wanamaker Trophy and 16th major, looks like he could be there on the back nine, too, after his 68. Woods has played just one tournament in nearly six months but looked spot on and pain-free. And he looked just fine with a new putter – a Scotty Cameron prototype – that he used instead of his Scotty Cameron that he’s used to win 14 of his 15 majors.
“I made some good putts,” Woods said. “For the most part of the day, I missed the ball on the correct sides. This golf course, you have to hit the ball in the fairway. You get a ball in the rough, into the grain, there’s no chance you can get the ball to the green. I felt like I did a decent job of doing that, and the golf course is only going to get more difficult as the week goes on.”
Getting better
Day has gotten better as the year has gone on. After a stretch of four missed cuts, one withdrawal and a tie for 46th in six starts, he reeled off his trio of top-10s.
“I shouldn’t say I’m not excited,” Day said. “I am excited to come out and play every day, but I know that I can improve, and mainly my putting can improve a little bit more.
“I feel like I’ve been working very hard in the off-weeks and especially when I come to a tournament to be able to get my putting back to where it is because it’s always been a strength of mine, and I feel like the game is slowly coming around, the confidence is coming around because I’m starting to see the results.”
And he’s starting to look forward to the next day. During his painful stretch, which has been mentally draining as well as physically uncomfortable, it’s been tough to get out of bed or off the couch. Now he can’t wait for the sunrise.
“I finally had enough of feeling sorry for myself, and it’s easy to do that in this game because it is so mentally tough,” he said. “You can start blaming everything else but yourself. Sometimes you’ve just got to pull your pants up and just move on, you know.
“I feel like the momentum that I’ve had over the last three starts has kind of seeped into this week. The funny thing is that every day I’m excited to go back to the golf course and play, whereas before I was struggling to get up and going, oh, do I want to kind of put myself through this again. To be honest, I’m excited to get out and play every week now.”
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