DUBLIN, Ohio — For the first time since his chronic back injuries began in 2015, Jason Day feels healthy.
“I feel like I don’t have an injury or like I’ve never had an injury, which is great,” Day said after his third-round 4-under 68 on Saturday at the Memorial. “It gives me the confidence knowing that my body and what I’m doing in the gym and what I’m doing with my swing is really paying off.”
It has been a long road back from a decline for the world’s former No. 1 player, an Australian who lives in Westerville, a suburb of Columbus. A year ago, Day withdrew from the Memorial because of a flare-up with his back.
Day is 3-under par after starting Saturday 1-over par. He made the cut with only a shot to spare. He got on a roll with an eagle on the par-4 No. 3 hole and birdies on No. 4 and No. 6.
The eagle came when he drained his approach shot from 142 yards away. What made it even remarkable was that his tee shot landed in a divot.
“Probably about a third of the ball was stuck under the ground, but it wasn’t my pitch mark so I couldn’t drop it out of it,” Day said. “I just kind of chopped down on a pitching wedge, and luckily enough it went in the hole.”
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His birdie on No. 4 also came on a ridiculous shot. He hit his tee shot 82 feet left of the pin in the rough and chipped in. His birdie on No. 6 came on a 39-foot putt.
He managed only one other birdie before making a 7-footer on No. 18 that followed an 11-foot putt on No. 17 to save bogey.
“I caught fire early and then I’m sitting there going, ‘Man, maybe I peaked too early,’” Day said. “But overall it was a nice day. I played some pretty good golf.”
Day said he is generally pleased with how he is playing, though he’s frustrated that one mediocre round has tended to offset three solid ones.
“I’m optimistic about where things are going,” he said, “but I’m trying to be as patient as possible.”
Though Day lives here, he doesn’t play Muirfield Village regularly.
“Everyone says it’s my home club and it is to a certain degree,” he said. “But before this week I only played nine holes in the last two years here. Even though I live like 30 minutes away. I’m too lazy to get in my car and drive 30 minutes to a championship golf course. I’d rather go to (Double Eagle), another championship golf course 10 minutes away.
“But it is nice to be able to have the caliber of golf course that we have in our backyard. A lot of people don’t understand that Columbus and Ohio in general, have tremendous golf courses, and they’re like hidden gems. When people come out here, they’re actually quite surprised how good the golf courses are up here in Ohio.”
Bill Rabinowitz is a sports reporter for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at brabinowitz@dispatch.com or on Twitter @brdispatch.
