Arnold Palmer Invitational
With a 64 at Bay Hill, Jason Day's feeling far better about his putting after reuniting with his longtime mentor
Keyur Khamar
ORLANDO — Jason Day reconnected with his boyhood swing coach Col Swatton last week, and their first order of business was to shore up a putting stroke that used to be a strength for the former World No. 1 but has, of late, become his biggest shortcoming.
On Friday at Bay Hill Club, Day fired a second-round eight-under 64 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational with seven birdies and an eagle. Can’t be coincidence.
After opening with a disheartening 76 on Thursday while struggling in stiff morning winds, Day stormed back into the tournament with the low round of week thus far and his career low at Bay Hill. He trails 36-hole leader Shane Lowry by four strokes at four-under 140.
“I did a lot of work on my putting last week,” said Day, who had been talking with his old coach since the start of the year and finally got together with him at Rio Pinar, just down the road from Bay Hill and the former venue for this event. "It's hard. I struggled with that this year. Some setup changes with Col, just had him come back on board, which was nice. Some old feels there.”
Day, 37, has more than struggled on the greens. Though he hasn’t missed a cut this year and finished T-3 at The American Express, the Australian native ranks 156th in strokes gained/putting, losing just under half a stroke per round at minus-.494. He is 174th in total driving, but he knew his priority had to be his work on the greens.
In short, Swatton altered Day’s setup over the ball. “I’m not saying that, ‘Hey, I'm going to go back to 2015, 2016 putting,’ but some of the stuff that I was doing, I was a little cramped, eyes too far over the ball,” he explained. “I've always been a person that has had my eyes on the inside of the ball, like a long way. Just a head position change. A little bit further away. Hands, arms up a little bit higher so the shoulders can pitch a lot better or swing a little bit better. Speed has improved dramatically since then, stroke's improved dramatically, and now I can start it on-line without scratching my head going, ‘Why did that not start on line?’”
Going back a decade would restore a lot of magic.
In his five-win season in 2015 in which he won the PGA Championship at briefly supplanted Jordan Spieth atop the world ranking, Day ranked sixth in putting at plus-.586. The following year, when he led the tour in putting at plus 1.130, Day won the Arnold Palmer Invitational wire-to-wire—the last first-round leader to go on to victory at Bay Hill—and then captured the Players Championship. He is one of four men to pull off that double. The others: Tom Kite, Tiger Woods (twice) and Scottie Scheffler last year.
Currently ranked 34th in the world, Day split with his fellow Aussie and longtime mentor Swatton in June 2020. They had been working together since Day was 13 years old, and for a long time Swatton doubled as Day's caddie to form a powerful team. Since then, Day has added just one victory to his 13-win career total, the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson.
It was time.
He needed a “fresh” set of eyes, he said, when in fact, he returned to a trusted set of eyes. Almost immediately, his mechanics started feeling familiar. Day said he felt fortunate that Swatton would agree to work with him again, given a busy schedule that includes television commentary and other instruction.
“He knows my game better than anyone, obviously, because we've had the history there,” Day said. “He's taught me since I was 13 years old. We had a bit of a break, and now we're back together. I'm looking forward to seeing the progression of my game going forward."
He's moving forward by harkening back to the past.