Writing from Lake Forest, Illinois
Sunday, September 20, 2015
At one point in Sunday’s final round of the BMW Championship at Conway Farms Golf Club, Jason Day’s lead was down to a mere four strokes.
He had been saturating his scorecard with pars, with the exception of a birdie at the eighth hole and a bogey at the ninth.
Daniel Berger was nipping at his heels, or at least trying to.
A rookie, chase down the guy who had won three of his previous five starts? Who had raced out to a six-stroke lead after 54 holes? Who was dominating the way guys like Hagen and Woods had done in Western Opens past?
Say it ain’t so.
It ain’t. Day sank a 15-footer from the fringe for birdie on the par-4 16th and a 3-footer for a birdie 4 at the last to win going away and grab the No. 1 world ranking away from Rory McIlroy, who finished tied for fourth.
Day’s winning score of 22-under-par 262, capped by Sunday’s 2-under 69, beat runner-up Berger by six strokes, third-place Scott Piercy – who birdied four of the last five holes – by seven and McIlroy, Rickie Fowler and John “J.B.” Holmes by eight.
Day’s total tied the Western Open mark set by Tiger Woods at Cog Hill in 2007. It was the biggest rout in a Western / BMW since Woods won by eight at Cog Hill in 2009.
It seemed inevitable entering the day, and proved to be so, but that deterred neither the galleries from pouring in nor the players was pouring in birdies. Bubba Watson went out in 29 and was chasing 59 before a bogey bit him. He settled for 65. There were two 64s, and more red numbers on the board than a supermarket sale.
All that was fun. What Day accomplished was remarkable.
At the British Open, Day missed the playoff by a stroke. He returned to North America and won the Canadian Open the next week, then outdueled Jordan Spieth to capture the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, then won the Barclays, the first tournament in the PGA Tour’s playoff series. The BMW is the third of the four playoff dances.
By winning it, he’s won four times in his last six starts, and is making the strongest possible argument that he, rather than Masters and U.S. Open winner Spieth, should be considered the player of the year.
Perhaps that will come down to a battle at next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake, where the $10 million bonus proffered by FedEx will also be on the line.
Regardless, Day was the man to catch on Sunday, and uncatchable.
“This week was a whirlwind,” Day said. “How I started the week, and the last two days were very emotional for me. Very hard to sleep at night, knowing I had the chance to get to No. 1.”
That was his goal, announced to the world at 18, but in his heart since he took up golf as a release from a difficult homelife in Australia at 13. He’d been on the verge of greatness, and was in the chase for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay when a spell of vertigo dropped him to the turf late in his second round. Like a fighter, he rallied and was able to tie for the lead after 54 holes. He finished tied for ninth, five strokes behind Spieth, but the spark was there, burned brightly at St. Andrews, and has been blinding since.
“I always had a vision of standing on top of the earth when I was a kid,” Day said. “It feels really good right now.”
How good?
“I’m still a regular guy who’s really good at hitting a golf ball,” Day said. “I feel like I did yesterday.”
Only with a better view.
The race to East Lake
Two years ago at Conway Farms, Harris English missed advancing to the Tour Championship by a stroke.
Last year at Cherry Hills, English missed again, and again by a stroke.
Sunday, after a scare, he made it. By a stroke.
“It’s awesome,” English said. “It’s kind of a goal starting the year. You get in all the majors. It kind of makes your schedule easier.”
Easy it wasn’t, either in how he did it – making a 3 1/2 foot birdie putt at the last to finish with an inward 37 for 2-under 69 and 10-under 274 to tie for 10th – or in the waiting. When he finished, NBC reported he was in. Then other birdie putts were rolling in across the course, and neither NBC nor he was sure. But finally, in English was, 30th in the standings to grab the last spot.
“I need to win about five or six times next year and come in here No. 1 on the FedEx Cup list and make it a little easier,” English said.
English and Kevin Na, who also finished 10th, climbed into the top 30. Daniel Summerhays and Justin Thomas fell out. They finished tied for 41st and tied for 19th, respectively. Somewhere over the course of the season, the week, the back nine, a saved stroke might have gotten them to East Lake in Atlanta as well.
Around Conway Farms
Zach Johnson and David Hearn each posted 7-under par 64, the best score of the day. Johnson did so with a five-birdie binge to finish, while Hearn’s bogey-free round featured seven birdies. ... The course’s scoring average of 69.754 was 1.246 strokes under par. Only 16 players were over par, with Bryce Molder’s 78 the high for the day. He finished tied for last with Ben Martin. ... The gallery appeared to be the largest of the week, which would be 27,000 if the WGA held to its stated maximum for any day.
– Tim Cronin