Friday 3 June 2016 22:37, UK
Jason Day admitted he would have struggled to break 80 had it not been for a superb short-game display as he carved out a battling 71 on day two at The Memorial.
The Muirfield Village member had cruised around his adopted home club in just 66 blows on the opening day in Ohio, but he was fighting an erratic swing early on Friday and produced a number of clutch par saves in his five-birdie, four-bogey round.
Day's touch around the greens deserted him on the 11th - his second hole of the day - as he chunked a pitch from the rough and walked off with a bogey-six, and he missed a six-foot birdie putt on 13 before atoning at the next after a precise wedge to four feet.
He got up and down from a greenside bunker for another birdie at 15, but a blocked tee shot at the next led to a bogey before he saved par at the 18th and first holes with almost identical bunker escapes to eight feet and perfect putts.
The world No 1 salvaged another par from six feet at the second before a sublime 201-yard tee shot to three feet at the fourth set up a birdie-two, which he followed with another at the par-five next despite his drive flirting with the trees.
Day pulled his tee shot into thick rough at the short eighth and stabbed his second into a bunker before holing from seven feet to limit the damage to a bogey, but he signed off in style as he drained a 20-foot putt for birdie at the ninth to close on seven under par.
"It's a little bit of a difference between yesterday and today, if I didn't have a short game, I probably would have shot in the high 70s," said the Australian. "Some days you just feel like you don't have any control over your swing, and that's just the way I felt today.
"I just had no control for some reason, maybe it was just the quick turnaround and just a bad hole - things just started unfolding that way. But to be able to stick it out and shoot one under on a tough day like this was pretty nice. I'm five back right now, so I've got to do some work on the weekend.
"It was just one of those days and I think I got in my own way a little bit as well. I think it was more upstairs than it was a technical issue just because you just don't miss shots that far right and that far left. But I feel like I'm going to hit a lot better tomorrow, and I'm not going to go to the range at all because I know I've done the prep to get to this point
"The positive thing was my short game was on fire today. So I saved my score with the short game - I got my chips across the green, so I feel great. But I'll look at some shots, 17 for example, the widest fairway on the golf course, and I hit it out of bounds."
Phil Mickelson is alongside Day at seven under after the veteran left-hander birdied his final three holes to card a three-under 69, and he felt his scoring did not represent his overall play.
"I feel like I'm playing better than I'm scoring, but I had a lot of fun today and I was able to finish up with three birdies, which kept me within striking distance," he said. "I feel like there's a hot round out there, and I hit a lot of good iron shots these past two days. I feel like I'm going to give myself a lot more birdie opportunities on the weekend.
"Because the greens are receptive, you don't have to be overly aggressive off the tee. I think you need to be a little bit more attacking into the greens, but you have to be careful because there's big numbers out there with as much water as we have.
"And as difficult as the rough is around the greens and as fast as the greens are, you can make a double pretty quick. So you want to be somewhat conservative off the tee, get it in play, and then you can attack the pins."
