Page 18 - Aruba Today

A18
SPORTSFriday 18 September 2015
Jason Day builds big lead at BMW Championship
DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) —
Jason Day already had
seven birdies on his card
and one eagle, courtesy
of a shot he holed from 79
yards out of a fairway bun-
ker. He was walking across
a bridge Thursday at the
BMW Championship when
someone asked him during
an exchange of greetings,
“How are you doing, Ja-
son?”
Jordan Spieth was a few
steps ahead of Day, and
he could hardly contain his
laughter.
“Really? You’re asking him
THAT?” Spieth said.
Day has never been bet-
ter. He powered his way
around Conway Farms
and was at 10-under par
through 17 holes when
thunderstorms halted the
opening round. His final
shot was a 346-yard tee
shot with the wind at his
back that settled in light
rough and left him 44 yards
away from a front pin on
No. 9.
Day has to hole that Friday
morning for a 59. And he
didn’t even know it.
“I thought it was a par
72, so I’m sitting there go-
ing, ‘10 under, there’s no
chance at all I can get it.’
But if it goes in, it goes in,”
he said. “Right now, I’m
just trying to play the best
I can. I’m just trying to get
off to a good start.”
He is playing better than

Jordan Spieth, left, Rickie Fowler, center and Jason Day of Australia, walk to mark their balls on Spieth and Rickie Fowler —
Nos. 1-2-3 in the FedEx Cup
the ninth fairway after play was suspended for severe weather during the first round of the BMW — attracted an enormous
gallery and the players de-
Championship golf tournament at Conway Farms Golf Club, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015, in Lake For- livered one great shot after
another.
est, Ill. Fowler, coming off his third
win of the year at the TPC
Associated Press Boston two weeks ago,
must have felt like a third-
anyone at the moment, a cost him the No. 1 ranking, 20-foot birdie putt. Spieth wheel at the end, though
he produced four straight
winner in three of his last he had a hole-in-one on chipped in for birdie on No. birdies on his front nine.
When they made the turn,
five tournaments, includ- the par-3 second hole to 3 and Day matched it with the hits kept coming.
Day’s shot from 79 yards
ing his first major. A victory end a peculiar drought. a 5-foot birdie. The play in a fairway bunker on
No. 1 landed beyond the
in the third FedEx Cup play- It was the first time in 72 was spectacular. hole and spun back a few
feet for eagle to get him
off event would send him holes that he was under The 27-year-old Australian to 6 under. On the par-3
second, Spieth’s tee shot
to No. 1 in the world for the par during any round in a was as sharp as he has just covered the bunker,
hopped once in the first
first time, and not many tournament. And then he been all year. cut and rolled into the cup
for an ace, the second of
would argue with that. chipped in from 80 feet for He is 89-under par dating his PGA Tour career. Day
holed a 20-foot birdie putt.
Day was four shots ahead birdie on the next hole. to the British Open. Day Both made birdie on No.
3, Spieth with his long chip-
of PGA Tour rookie Daniel Little good that did him. is playing so well that he in and Day with a wedge
to 5 feet. Spieth found his
Berger, who had a 6-under Walking to the fourth tee, said every round feels like groove with a shot into 4
feet on No. 3 for another
65. Brendon Todd had a 66. Spieth pointed behind him practice. “No matter what birdie.
Day’s power was evident
Only 17 players completed at Day and said, “He’s still you do, even if you hit a on his final few holes.
He tried to drive the green
the opening round. the clinic. I’ve barely got bad shot, it’s going to be on the 352-yard 17th hole
and landed in the collar,
Spieth finally got on track. the (honors on the) tee.” all right,” Day said. “That’s 60 feet away. He nearly
holed the chip for eagle.
Coming off consecutive Spieth made a hole-in- kind of the way it feels. It’s On the 600-yard eighth
hole into a strengthening
missed cuts that eventually one and Day poured in a hard to explain because wind, he hit his drive 305
yards and then powered a
3-wood high and into the
wind. It landed just short
I’m just out there and I’m of the green, 30 feet from
the hole, and he nearly
not really paying attention chipped that one in for
eagle.
to the score and I’m hitting Day gets one more try for
an eagle when he gets
it down the middle and hit- back Friday morning, a 44-
yard pitch for a shot at 59
ting it on the greens and to tie the course record Jim
Furyk set two years ago.
holing putts.” The way things are going,
it’s hard to rule him out.q
It was the best show of the
PGA Tour’s postseason,
even for a Thursday that
was interrupted by a dark
and stormy sky north of Chi-
cago. The group of Day,