Jason Day rolled back the years early doors on day two at The Masters and got himself to within three shots (-9) of the leader Brooks Koepka before the wheels came off in the last four holes and he went double bogey, bogey, par, bogey to end the day on 5-under par. A finish that was all his own making with some missed putts and some poor judgement.
“Hit two bad lag putts, and when you miss it left and you’re going to lay up, obviously a couple of mental errors, but yeah, it’s disappointing because you’re coming in with some good momentum going into 15. Even though I missed a short one on 14.
“Who knows what happens over the next few days. I’m not even trying to look at where — obviously I know where Brooks is, but you never know how the weather pans out and then you could find something over the next couple days.”
After birdies on two and three Day went bogey-birdie on 8 and 9 before the highlight of his day – a chip in birdie on the par-4 11th and he admitted he was feeling good at that point.
“Yeah, it was good. The chip-in was great, and then the birdie on 13 was great, and I missed a short one on 14. I just missed some short ones coming in, and unfortunately that’s just how it goes sometimes.
“Yeah, I’m actually very disappointed with how I finished. Being decently close to where Brooks was going into the weekend, you never know how it goes, and obviously going from 9 to 5 was a bit of a kick in the gut.”
Day had been struggling with a persistent back injury for a number of years and it’s hard to believe that it was six years ago that he was world number one. He is back with a vengeance now though it seems and while the decline was slow and steady and he admittedly came close to quitting the game, he bottomed out at world number 175 before a steady return to form and right now he’s feeling healthy and strong.
“It feels good, but today kind of ruins it for me (chuckling). I’ve just got to give myself time. I’ve just got off the golf course and I’m thoroughly annoyed with myself, and I’m sitting here answering questions, and that can be difficult because it’s in the heat of the moment, and I’m trying to get a hold of myself.
“Shoot, seven shots is a long way (to Koepka). But there’s still 36 holes to go. I’m just going to not even focus on that, just got to focus on just hitting the best shot I can at the time and then add them up after the next few days.”
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