Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Here’s how to get Jason Day to lose the BMW Championship on Sunday:
• Set off the fire alarm every hour on the hour.
• Blockade his hotel room door overnight.
• Hire a guy to drive him to Rockford in the morning.
• Replace his clubs with left-handed ladies clubs.
Otherwise, to quote the late, great Bob Rosburg, you’ve got no shot.
Even with a ho-hum 2-under-par 69 on Saturday at Conway Farms Golf Club, Day has a six-stroke advantage on Scott Piercy and rookie Daniel Berger, with the rest of the field wagging their tails behind him.
Said Rory McIlroy, solo fourth at 13-under-par 200 after a 4-under 67, “The tournament is in Jason’s hands right now, and it’s up to us that are behind him to try and get off to fast starts. And he needs to come back to the field a little bit.”
As in make bogeys not offset by birdies. Day scattered four bogeys on his card on Saturday, but each was preceded or followed, or both, by a birdie. Two more birds, including a 20-footer at the last, coaxed forth the 69 and a breathtaking 54-hole total of 20-under-par 193, on a day when the wind played hob with his club selection and his mind. No matter. Both totals are three-round records across 112 playings of the Western Open, which was renamed the BMW in 2007.
“I’m hoping the veteran in me doesn’t get frustrated,” Day said. “I felt my mind was clouded. I never like that (north-northwest) wind.
“All the easy holes were tough. I was out of sorts trying to get that down. That could have gone from a 69 to a 74 or more. The experience I have helped.”
In other words, even with hitting a ball out-of-bounds – and recovering for bogey on the par-4 13th – Day did what he needed to do to maintain a big margin and narrow the field of contenders for the final round.
There’s Piercy and Berger, then McIlroy seven back, then Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Kevin Na eight back at 12-under 201, and everyone else is dreaming, including Jordan Spieth, in a tie for 10th at 10-under 203, 10 strokes in arrears.
Day wants the world No. 1 ranking McIlroy has. He’ll get it, leapfrogging No. 2 Spieth, with a victory.
“A lifelong dream,” Day called it.
Day led by eight strokes for a few seconds, and by as many as seven on several occasions. He reached 20-under after a 7-foot birdie putt on the eighth hole, his 44th of the tournament. The old record for reaching 20-under was 62 holes, established by Tiger Woods on Cog Hill’s testing Dubsdread layout in 2003. Day beat that by 18 holes, a full round.
His six-stroke margin is the largest of the season on the PGA Tour, surpassing the five-stroke edge of J.B. Holmes with a round remaining at Doral. Holmes yielded to Dustin Johnson in that scrap. Johnson lurks once again, but Day’s game is more complete than Holmes’.
Only once has a six-stroke lead after 54 holes not led to victory in the Western. Alex Robertson stumbled and lost to Macdonald Smith at Idlewild in 1912.
The slight breeze from the north-northwest and the first set-up of over 7,000 yards – 7,045, to be exact – in seven championship rounds stiffened Conway’s test to a degree, but with lift, clean and place still in effect on the fairways, the course still played under par. The 69-player field toured the par-71 course in 70.653 strokes. Which means Day still beat the field by 1.6 strokes.
McIlroy, for one, had hoped to be closer, but was disappointed with his round even with six birdies offset by one bogey.
“Another case of hit it really good and gave myself loads of chances and didn’t really convent many,” McIlroy said. “At least I’m getting better each and every day. I’m not quite close enough to maybe catch Jason tomorrow, but I’ll go out and play the best I can.
“If I can convert a few more chances, that 67 today could turn into 63 or 62 tomorrow, and you never know.”
Piercy birdied five of his last 12 holes for 67 and 14-under 199, then raced to the range to sort out his driver, which hit only eight fairways. Berger, chasing a top-30 spot in the standings for a berth in next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, was 1-over on the day until three straight birdies set up a 70 for 199. He entered the week 46th.
“Honestly, through three rounds I haven’t really thought about it,” Berger said. “If it happens, it happens, and if not, I’ll be all right with that.”
Around Conway Farms
Day would become the 17th player to win the PGA Championship and Western Open in a career, and the 10th to do so in the same year. McIlroy did so in 2012, capturing the BMW / Western at Crooked Stick in Carmel, Ind. ... Day and Piercy are the last pairing, at 12:50 p.m. They’re 10 minutes after Berger and McIlroy, with Fowler and Dustin Johnson at 12:30 p.m. ... Ben Martin, with an 80 on Saturday, goes off as a single at 7:25 p.m. ... The 5-under 66s of Fowler and Daniel Summerhays were the low rounds of the day.
– Tim Cronin