Thursday 11 May 2017 19:54, UK
Jason Day continued his habit of holing long-range putts in big tournaments as he drained a monster for an unlikely birdie in the opening round of The Players Championship.
The defending champion has not managed a win since cruising to a four-shot triumph at TPC Sawgrass 12 months ago and has slipped to fifth in the world rankings, but he made an excellent start to his bid to become the first back-to-back winner in golf's "fifth major".
Day started on the back nine and turned in 33 before moving into a share of the lead at the first, despite blocking his drive into the trees and coming up a long way short and right with his approach.
The Australian would have been happy to two-putt for his par, but he received a big bonus when his ball hit the pin and dropped for a birdie three to move to four under.
Day claimed the outright lead with another birdie at the long second, but he stumbled towards the end of his round as he bogeyed three of his last four holes to return a disappointing 70.
"I'm excited about where the state of the game is," said Day, who admitted earlier this week that he was able to focus fully on his game with his mother's health improving following cancer surgery during the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play.
"Obviously there's some positive stuff and it's easy to get yourself out of position here, but for the most part I actually played some solid golf. I was thinking actually seven or eight under after the second hole. I did give myself the opportunities coming in, I just, unfortunately, had a couple of mistakes.
"I hit a lot of fairways, which was good. I'm starting to hit it a lot closer and I felt good that the irons are starting to come in proximity-wise. And then obviously the putting was the only lag there on the back side, which is the front side, I just really didn't capitalise on the stuff I usually make.
"But that's golf and hopefully I don't make those mistakes over the next three days and actually capitalise on the opportunities that I give myself. It's pretty hard out there and it's only going to get firmer and faster. 12 under usually wins around here, so got to try and reach that number and if I can, then great."
