Before trees fell at the US Masters, there was Jason Day. And around Augusta National, it only takes an instant to be out on a limb.
The falling pines that terrified patrons and golfers near the 17th tee and 15th and 16th greens during the second round of the Masters, causing play to be abandoned for the day, were preceded by another dramatic collapse.
Day was on a stretch of golf that once brought Greg Norman to his knees, grew Gene Sarazen’s legend and made Nike billions on the back of Tiger Woods’ little white ball taking forever to roll into the hole.
It also crushed Day’s hopes of winning the Masters. Maybe.
A few hours before tall timber fell to earth at the course, sending patrons scattering, Day was humming heading into the final four-hole stretch.
If there was one man capable of stopping LIV Golf’s Brooks Koepka from slipping one arm into a green jacket, then it was Australia’s former world No.1.
Jason Day tees off during the second round at the Masters.Credit: Getty
He had picked up four shots on his round, and was staring at one of those awkward pitches that make grown men quiver. Eighty-two yards out, ball on a down slope, water protecting the front of a green that banks wickedly back to the hazard.
What could go wrong?
“It wasn’t the first one I hit fat today, unfortunately,” said Day, perhaps an understatement given his ball barely made it halfway across the oblong pond.
A weekend hacker might have backed themselves to better it. He ended up taking a double-bogey seven.
Is it possible to win a golf tournament, let alone the Masters, with a blot like that on the scorecard? It’s not impossible, but when you’re chasing Koepka, Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa, mistakes must be small, both in size and frequency.
On the next hole, he three-putted for a bogey. He left a birdie putt agonisingly short on 17. To top it off, he steamed off the last with another three-putt bogey, angrily wiping the face of his club as his short-par try slid by the hole.
“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,” Day said.
For years, Australians have become accustomed to Day being a feature on the Masters leaderboard without finding the route to Butler Cabin. He’s been tied for second, third, tied fifth, and tied 10th. Is it ever going to come together for him at Augusta?
Jason Day celebrates a birdie on the third hole in his second round.Credit: AP
When he won his only major in 2015, son Dash was being carried around in the arms of Day’s wife, Ellie. Dash sported the cute long hair that helped his dad win over cold-hearted golf fans who wondered why he hadn’t come back to Australia more.
This week, Dash is walking the Augusta fairways and almost sees eye to eye with his dad. Ellie is expecting a fifth child later this year. Day is talking about coming back to Australia for the first time in five years, and if he can grab a green jacket along the way, it will be a special homecoming.
For the first 14 holes in his second round, he showed his best is more than good enough to do that and follow Adam Scott, 10 years on.
While Scott is rightly celebrated for breaking a glass ceiling in Australian sport, many forget Day stood on the 16th tee with the lead that year before going bogey-bogey. Even now, you sense he feels that was the one that got away.
On Saturday morning (AEST), he recreated the Larry Mize moment when he chipped in from off the 11th green for birdie, an act that brought Amen Corner to its feet. If he was watching, Norman may have broken out in a cold sweat.
But you can spend a week at the Masters ticking every box, and it can still implode in a few minutes. Instead of being two, maybe three shots behind Koepka (12 under) at the halfway mark, Day will start his third round in another postcode at five under.
Asked about the chance to play freer now Koepka is barely on the horizon, Day said: “Shoot, seven shots is a long way. 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.
“[But] being decently close to where Brooks was going into the weekend, you never know how it goes, and obviously going from nine [under] to five was a bit of a kick in the guts.”
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