Last week at the Waste Management Phoenix Open former World No. 1 Brooks Koepka ended his winless drought as Jordan Spieth showed signs of life. A week later, Spieth has picked up where he left off and grabbed the 54-hole lead for a second straight week as he attempts to return to the winner’s circle for the first time in more than three years.
But he’s not the only former World No. 1 showing some life in his game at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Australian Jason Day shot his third straight round in the 60s on Saturday, shooting 4-under 68 on a windy day at Pebble Golf Links to climb to 10-under 206 and three strokes off the pace.
“It was pretty solid,” Day said. “My putting was something that saved me out there a few times.”
Pebble has traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Day. In his six previous starts in the tournament, he’s finished fourth, T-4, T-2. T-5, T-11 and T-4. All that’s missing is a trophy for the 12-time Tour winner, who hasn’t tasted victory since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.
Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Leaderboard | Photos
Day, 33, who has missed three of his last four cuts, has dropped to No. 48 in the Official World Golf Ranking and it doesn’t sit well with the Australian, who still has visions of returning to World No. 1.
“If I look at my world ranking, that’s the biggest motivation for me,” Day told the AAP in January before making his season debut at Torrey Pines. “Playing bad golf is frustrating; not living up to what you think you should be living up to is very frustrating.
“Where I’m ranked, I know I’m better than that. My inspiration is to try get back to world No.1. I know I still have the game to do it.”
To do so, Day has made some radical changes. After parting ways with his longtime instructor Col Swatton, Day began working with Dallas-based Chris Como, whose students include Bryson DeChambeau and who formerly coached Tiger Woods. Day also ended his longtime relationship with TaylorMade and for the first time in his 14-year career is an equipment free agent. He’s beginning to rediscover his comfort zone on the course.
“I’ve just been working really hard on my short game, working really hard on my putting,” Day said. “Typically, I do make bogeys, I’m not one of those guys that could go around and put consecutive no-bogey rounds together. I’ve always kind of made a lot of birdies and mixed that in with a couple mistakes. So to be able to have four bogeys until here is nice.”
Day jumped out to a quick start on Saturday by holing a 12-foot birdie putt at the first. He added short birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 to turn in 3-under 33. On the second nine, Day traded a birdie at No. 11 with a bogey at No. 12 before draining a 16-foot birdie putt at No. 15. Day enters the final round in a share of seventh. Still, the biggest test is yet to come on Sunday. The last time Day was in contention, at the CJ Cup in October, he withdrew early in his round with a neck injury. Day has been sidetracked by an assortment of injuries, especially to his back.
“Jason is still trying to work on stuff with Como to make sure he can swing a golf club on a regular basis. He’s changing his swing in a fairly major way. That’s not an easy thing to flip the switch on,” Golf Channel’s Arron Oberholser said last week in Phoenix. “It takes time, it takes trust, it takes reps. Day had chances at CJ Cup but the changes he’s making to his swing hurt his neck. I still think he’s a ways away.”
But Day is lurking and he’s been there before, albeit without the bushy beard he’s currently sporting. He’s a major winner, a former No. 1 and with wife Ellie expecting a fourth child later this year, there’s no better time to take a big step forward to his goal to be No. 1 again.
“I just got to hit my irons better, just plain and simple, I just haven’t hit my irons as well as I had the last previous couple weeks,” said Day, who has lost strokes to the field in Strokes Gained: Approach the green in his two measured rounds at Pebble. “If I can do that and keep the putter going then I might give myself a shot. I feel good about the game, I just got to give myself more opportunities.”
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