Late birdie keeps Feng in U.S. Women’s Open lead

ORLANDO, Fla. - Jason Day stood along the right edge of the fairway on the benign par-5 16th hole at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, peering skyward through giant binoculars, looking like an expert birdwatcher looking for Florida's rare black-whiskered vireo. Instead, Day was searching for his Bridgestone golf ball, which he'd driven right, high into a tree, with the ball never returning to earth on Day 2 of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. With the help of binoculars borrowed from a spotter, a television camera and a digital camera, Day finally was able to locate and identify his ball (he did so through its Bridgestone ‘B XS' sidestamp) that had settled in a bird nest well up in the tree. RELATED: Full leaderboard Having identified the ball, Day was able to declare his ball unplayable, and not required to go back to the tee to hit another ball. The rule states a golfer does not have to physically recover the ball, and Day was able to drop two club lengths from the base of the tree, taking a one-shot penalty. An interpretation of Rule 19.2 states that if a player's ball is above the ground (such as in a tree, or a bush), the player may take lateral relief using the point on the ground below the spot of the ball. Day laid up short of the water that fronts the green, missed the green just right with his fourth shot, and took three shots to get down from the collar. Double-bogey. Not the result he had been thinking about standing on the tee of the course's easiest hole at 4 under par minutes earlier. "I think the mama bird is going to come back and find another egg there," Day said. "So it's unfortunate, but it is what it is." Day would make another double at 18 from a greenside bunker ("That was more of a gut punch than 16," he said), but fought back to make three birdies on the front nine (his second nine) and shoot level-par 72. The 2016 API champion, who early in his career lived only five minutes from the gates at Bay Hill, stands at 2-under 142 heading to the weekend. Eight years ago, also at Bay Hill, Sergio Garcia had a ball get stuck about 15 feet into the "V" of a tree right of the par-4 10th hole. To the cheers of a gallery, he climbed up the tree and played a backwards shot onto the green. He, too, made double, but after a rain delay, had to withdraw with six holes to play in his round because he had strained his shoulder. Day wasn't heading up a tree to play this one. Asked if he'd ever had a ball get stuck in a tree before, Day said he hadn't. "It's just like one of these trees here," Day said, pointing to a thinned-out tree near the practice tee, "so there's nothing for it to hold up, other than a nest. So it's unfortunate ... but I'm glad we found it in the end." Saturday, the binoculars returned, Day will get back to hunting birdies and eagles.

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Round 3 of THE PLAYERS Championship begins Saturday from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Lee Westwood leads by one with Matthew Fitzpatrick, Chris Kirk, Sergio Garcia, Bryson DeChambeau and more close behind. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Every Shot Live: Live streaming of every shot hit at THE PLAYERS Championship will get underway Thursday morning from TPC Sawgrass. Nearly 100 cameras will capture roughly 31,000 strokes taken over approximately 430 rounds played. It will be available free through PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold on Thursday. See schedule below. PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 6:40 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Saturday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Sunday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-6 p.m. (Every Shot Live) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete. FEATURED GROUPS Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa Phil Mickelson, Charles Howell III Jon Rahm, Dylan Frittelli Bryson DeChambeau, Charley Hoffman MUST READS Round 2 review: THE PLAYERS Championship A predictably unpredictable PLAYERS DeChambeau, Rahm lurk at THE PLAYERS McCarthy’s ace fuels rise up leaderboard at THE PLAYERS By the numbers: No. 17 at THE PLAYERS Championship Win probabilities: THE PLAYERS Championship ‘Every Shot Live’ returns 20-year anniversary of Tiger’s ‘Better Than Most’ putt Inside THE PLAYERS’ greatest comeback Five things to remember from the 2019 PLAYERS CALL OF THE DAY

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