Jason Day scored nine strokes better (three under par) in round two of the U.S. Open than his first round (six over par). His new putter had a lot to do with it.
Except... It's not new, of course. That would be against the rules now that the tournament at Oakmont Country Club has started. It's just... customized.
Day admitted his improved game on the green was likely thanks to a change he made to the club. He didn't like the way his putter was playing after the opening round and bent it to open it up a bit.
While one might think a 13-time PGA Tour winner would have some sophisticated method for adjusting his clubs' bend angle, one would be left mistaken.
"Just manually bent it myself, stood on it," Day said via GOLF.com. "That’s kind of how I used to do it back in the day. It just hadn’t been looking very good to me personally, kind of looks a little bit hooded, the grip’s on a little bit closed too, so that’s not a positive for me. But I bent it enough to make it look more open, which is good.”
His putting was great on day two, going from 1.64 strokes lost to 2.3 strokes gained on day two. That was the major difference across the two days where he hit 11 greens in regulation in both of the first two rounds (though he did find three more fairways on Friday than Thursday).
Day enters Saturday tied for 12th in the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
More U.S. Open on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jason Day Tried Wild Way to Manipulate His Putter at U.S. Open, and It Actually Worked.
