Peter Uihlein topped the leaderboard at 8-under 63 on Thursday in the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open, with Jordan Spieth 3 strokes back in his season debut.
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Tiger Woods was a ferocious competitor, then made some huge mistakes off the course. His recent struggles, however, are different.
CHICAGO, Ill. – Rory McIlroy hired his best man for his bag. Jason Day has replaced his. Day has become the latest high profile player to change up his long-term caddie with news he will rest mentor and coach Colin Swatton from club carrying duties in favor of another close friend, Luke Reardon. While Swatton will remain Day’s coach, Reardon has been given the bag at Conway Farms this week for the BMW Championship where the 2015 champion will attempt to find his first win since the 2016 PLAYERS Championship. It is believed Day will trial the change for the rest of 2017. His season goes on the line this week as he sits 28th in the FedExCup and must perform to move on to the 30-man TOUR Championship. Day will then play The Presidents Cup before likely stops in Korea and China in the new 2017-18 season on his way to an Australian Open showdown with Jordan Spieth in November. It was just two years ago that Swatton and Day ascended to World No. 1 status for the first time with Day’s wire-to-wire win in Chicago. It was the culmination of a long journey which began at a golf academy in Australia when Day was just 12 years old and arrived to be taught by Swatton. Both had lost their fathers to cancer shortly before they met. Together they have claimed 10 PGA TOUR wins, including the 2015 PGA Championship and 2016 PLAYERS. From their early beginnings Swatton became a father figure to Day, eventually moving to the USA with him to pursue the dreams of professional golf as his coach and caddie. The pair have been virtually inseparable with Swatton the best man at Day’s wedding to wife Ellie among other major moments in his life. “I love them together,� Ellie said a year ago of the pair. “Anytime there has even been a minor thought they wouldn’t work together, I would have a heart attack and it stresses me out because I know how good they are for each other. “Jason’s path would have been totally different if he didn’t meet Col. Who knows if he hadn’t met him where he would be. Col is a massive reason he has made it this far, and just as importantly, kept going.� Reardon has a close connection to both men. He was also coached by Swatton at the academy in Queensland and was a roommate of Day’s. It was an early rising Reardon who opened Day’s eyes to the virtues of hard work. Once Day saw his friend getting up early to practice he vowed to get up earlier and work harder, an ethic that took him to the top of the world. Day is the third big name player to change caddies recently after Phil Mickelson split with Jim Mackay and Rory McIlroy moved on from J.P. Fitzgerald.
CROMWELL, Conn. – Rory McIlroy may have doomed his chances to win the Travelers Championship after a decidedly uneven, even-par 70. He is six behind 36-hole leader Xander Schauffele, who shot his second straight 63 (14 under). Although Schauffele will take a five-shot lead over five players into the weekend – including Patrick Cantlay (67), his partner in their win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans – McIlroy’s misadventures at TPC River Highlands were equally eye-opening. The surprising lapse: a quadruple bogey at the 12th hole and double bogey at the drivable 15th. “It sort of came out of the blue,” said McIlroy, whose card also included seven birdies and one bogey. “I haven’t made a big number like that or couple big numbers like that in a long time.” Playing his fourth tournament in four weeks, McIlroy was always going to be fighting fatigue. He also has a cold and has said he hasn’t been comfortable with his fairway woods. Still, after an opening-round 62 he was still at it Friday, 5 under through 11 holes and in the lead at 13 under. Then it all went wrong. McIlroy hooked his tee shot out of bounds left on No. 12. After a penalty and hitting three from the tee, he blew his next effort into the right fescue, advanced his fourth shot into the greenside bunker, barely got his ball out of the sand, and took three to get down from there for an 8. It was McIlroy’s sixth career quad, and first since the 2021 PLAYERS Championship. “You know, when you hit a tee shot like on 12, the first one, the second one is pretty difficult,” he said, “and you’re sort guarding against the left one and I missed it right.” He used a fairway wood again at the 271-yard 15th hole, and that, too, led to problems. His tee shot would up on the fescue-covered hillside right of the green, and while he seemed to have averted disaster when his second shot stopped just short of the green, he bladed his third over the green and into the water. He took a drop, chipped up, and made an 11-footer to save double. It was a bizarre sequence for one of the best players in the world, but McIlroy chose to focus on the positives: seven birdies, his hot start to the round, and the 36 holes left in the tournament. “For whatever reason I haven’t been comfortable with my fairway woods the last couple weeks,” he said. “You know, I just hit three loose ones there, two on 12, and then the one on 15. That was really it. I played well the rest of the way. Obviously got off to that great start. “I thought I came back well,” he added. “I made a good putt for 6 on 15 and then birdied 16. Yeah, I should be closer to the lead. Feel like I let a lot of guys into the golf tournament because of it. But, you know, it’s still only two rounds. There are two rounds left and a lot of golf left.”
