Jason Day Starts Thinking Bethpage Course Record But One Poor Tee Shot Spoils That.

When World No. 1 and defending champion Jason Day five of his opening seven holes he admitted he began thinking of the Bethpage Park Black course record.

However after a poor tee shot at the par three eighth hole that all changed where he missed the green some 40 yards left of the flag.

Day walked off with a bogey and then was in more trouble down the left side of the par four ninth hole when he tee shot landed in a ‘native vegetation’ area, and leaving him little option other than to hit a 50-yard tee shot back to the fairway.

Then to compound matters Day put his third shot into a greenside bunker from where he took a further three shots to get up-and-down for a double bogey ‘6’.

But that was not the end of Day’s woes on day two of the opening event of the FedEx Cup Play-Off Series as he proceeded to find a greenside bunker with his second shot at the 10th and drop a further shot.

World No. 1 Jason Day still very much in contention after two rounds of the Barclays Championship.  (Photo - www.pgatour.com)

World No. 1 Jason Day still very much in contention after two rounds of the Barclays Championship.

So from being five under par after seven holes, Day was four over for the next three.

Day eventually finished with a score of 70 to be among a big group on four under par and still only four shots off the lead head by American Patrick Reed, who shot a 68 and lead by two shots on eight under par.

“I had it going great and I felt — what’s the course record, and obviously it can turn pretty quick, especially if you’re out of position,” said Day.

“The one on 8, definitely a poor shot. The tee shot on 9 was poor. And then you miss a few anywhere on 10, I think the only good place to miss it is the bunker. If you miss in the rough, there’s no way of holding that green, and then you’re trying to save yourself. Yeah, I mean, it was a little difficult out there but I felt like I ground it out pretty good.

“I know Patrick is up there, and I’m currently four back. Just got to try to get it under par and slowly chip away at it.”

But with two rounds to play and just four behind the champion Australian is not about to throw in the towel and just happy after two rounds to still be well in the mix for a third PGA Tour title this season.

“I’m really looking forward to the weekend. I feel like I’m really close,” he said.

“I mean, the driving hasn’t been spot on but I know the reps that I’ve done prior to this hopefully will catch up to my game and I’ll start driving it a little bit better. The touch feels pretty good. I fee like I’m rolling the ball pretty well. I’ve just got to give myself the opportunities.

“Once again, if you don’t get yourself in the fairways, you’re not going to give yourself the opportunities.”

If there is any comfort for Day, his effort already this year at Bethpage Park is far better than when the Barclays was last staged here in 2012.

Admittedly, Day is a class above than compared to four years ago when he shot rounds of 70, 70, 77 and 66 to share 24th place.

“Well, I played back in I think 2012. It’s just a brutal course. I was talking to Scotty actually back when he played the U.S. Open I think 2001 or 2002,£” he said.

“He was talking about the fifth hole. And he goes, there was probably only two guys in the field that could actually cut the bunker on the right. Now most of the field can do that. So just goes to show what technology has done for us.

“But also, with that said, I mean, you look at the scores, it’s only going to get tougher on the weekend. Everything is going to get a lot more condensed. I don’t really see it going too much lower than what it is. I still think single digits is a pretty good score. But we’ll see how it goes.”



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