With a cold, damp, and blustery forecast for Saturday at TPC Potomac, Jason Day thought he couldn’t be too aggressive.
“I feel like the swing is in a beautiful area,” Day said after shooting a 67 in the second round to move to 10 under par and three strokes ahead of the field. “Just go out and try to hit the ball and find it again, hit it again,” says the player.
After finding the right rough off the tee on the par-4 first hole, Day would find his ball and hit it 78 more times before shooting a 9-over 79 and falling seven strokes behind at the Wells Fargo Championship.
After a bogey-triple-bogey stretch at Nos. 3-5, Day surrendered his advantage. After yanking his tee ball into the water on the par-4 fourth, he made a triple. Day finished his front nine with a bogey at No. 9, then quickly doubled the par-4 10th hole, hitting his second ball into the penalty area. Day’s only birdie came on the par-3 12th hole, where he made a 14-foot putt.
In regulation, he discovered nearly half as many penalty areas (three) as greens (eight).
“Unfortunately, I just didn’t have my stuff today,” Day remarked in a one-question interview following. “I’m just attempting to think.” I made a lot of mistakes and hit into penalty areas out there. It’s all right. All I have to do now is get back to work tomorrow and try to take some positives from the first two days into the next round.”