Jason Day’s 1-swing thought before ‘unbelievable’ Presidents Cup shot

MONTREAL — Jason Day, maybe a second or so after contact, raised his right hand, clenched his fist and flashed his teeth. He knew where the ball was going.

But he readily admits it could have gone either way.

“Yeah, I don’t want to hit him again.” day said.

You can’t blame him. No mulligans needed, though. On Friday, during Day 2’s play Presidents CupDay was in a Royal Montreal pickle. On the par-4 18th, he was on the green, about 50 feet from the hole, after the second shot of his International group in the alternate stroke format. The way home was on an incline, then downhill. That lie was wet, he said. The grass was cabbage. Several hundred new friends surrounded him. But then Day took out his rock, lifting it up before dropping it down, and it ended up 2 meters from the cup, giving him and teammate Christiaan Bezuidenhout a 1-up win over the Americans Max Homa AND Brian Harman.

So great was the shot that he normally reserved it Adam Scottat the post-play press conference, interrupted a reporter’s question about the play to weigh in. Day was told the shot was “really pretty,” but Scott thought the description was off the mark.

“Very nice?” he said.

“It was incredible.”

Here’s how Day said he pulled it off.

The practice swings helped. They tested whether his club would bounce or dig. But one thought was key.

“Then I just push my awareness as far as possible to my target and fly,” Day said. “Then when you start thinking a lot inside, like in the ball, then you start thinking a little bit more and you can get into your own way and think – there’s a pause almost where you start – your mind wanders. So I was just trying to push my thoughts to the flight, where I was going to land it, and just focus on that, keep focusing on that.

“Then once I hit the shot, I knew it was going to be good regardless. I think halfway through the shot I held my hand up, just knowing it was going to be a good shot.”

From there, from the right of the green, Harman failed to get in and the game ended. The win was part of an international Friday sweep, tying the two-year streak at five points apiece.

However, there is more. Notably, a reporter missed Day’s brief and asked a similar question on set—which he was more than happy to oblige.

Again, he said, he focused on the decline.

“They were going to get up and down regardless, so I had to make a good shot,” Day said. “The only way to hit a good shot is to visualize the ball landing – I tend to see the ball rolling and then add the picture to what the flight should do after the fact. I had to stone him. I didn’t want to give Bez a shot at the potential win or semi or whatever it was.

“My mindset was just to make sure that – you know, get my consciousness out, make sure I put him in my seat, but try to get the flight to where it needs to be. I don’t know, it was weird, like it was one of those things where you could have run out of green very quickly or shot something.

“Yeah, I think the biggest thing was just making sure my awareness wasn’t right on the ball, it was off target, and trying not to let it go or join any thoughts that would come into my mind because it’s very easy. . I have a ton of people behind me. I can see the guys, the American side is sitting very well on the other side.

“But just trusting in that process, it happened, and I feel very fortunate to be able to hit a shot like that in those conditions, because what we’re doing now, playing in this team format is going to help us in the future by playing below in other tournaments. So this is great experience for me.”

Nick Piastowski

Editor of Golf.com

Nick Piastowski is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across the golf space. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash down his score. . You can reach him about any of these topics – his stories, his game or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.