RBC Heritage notebook: Jason Day bounces back during long stretch of golf

Some 20 hours after one of the worst rounds of his PGA Tour career, World No. 1 Jason Day found his rhythm again with with a 3-under-par 68 — fully 11 strokes better than the previous afternoon.

“I had three great rounds and just one really, really poor round that put me out of the tournament,” said Day, whose four-day total of 1-under 283 left him with a share of 23rd place.

“I did some great things this week, especially coming off the back end of a major and the back end off two wins,” he continued. “I’ve just got to get back, just rest my mind, rest my body and try and get back in the swing of things.”

The RBC Heritage marked Day’s fourth tournament in a five-week stretch, including last week’s Masters and the WGC Dell Match Play, where he played seven matches on the way to victory. He’d hinted Friday at dealing with fatigue, and it caught up with him in Saturday’s 79.

“Just not quite mentally as sharp as I have been on the first, second and fourth round,” he said. “I could have shot something lower than what I shot, but I played bad. I can’t say anything more.”

For what it’s worth, if Day had shot even-par on Saturday, he would have tied Branden Grace.

Confidence, and the ‘danger hole’

Australian John Senden shot a 6-under-par 65, the day’s best round, to finish with a 1 under total, good for a tie for 23rd. He said he got in a groove on the back nine, especially after getting past the “danger hole.”

“I made a good 4 on No. 10 and birdied No. 11 and No. 13, and I got it on the green on No. 14,” he said. “If you get past the 14th hole, you think you can shoot a good score, because that’s a danger hole, big time.”

When asked if he had any plans to celebrate his low round, he said no, just catch a jet to Dallas.

“Confidence for next week,” he said of his 65. “That’s all.”

Fresh, two-putt love

“Finally, everything kind of came together,” Adam Hadwin said after his final round 4-under-par 67.

Much has been made of the greens’ speed and firmness this week, but Hadwin had a … fresh … perspective.

“I’d only played here one year before on the older greens,” he said. “So I was kind of fresh.”

A highlight of his day?

“I two-putted on No. 6, from the front edge, about 65, 66 feet,” said Hadwin, who finished the tournament at even par. “I blew it about 7 feet by. So, to make that (second putt) coming back to keep it at two under … it’s amazing what’ll happen when you roll in a couple of putts.”

Ernie Els, the freak

When asked after his 5-under-par 66 final if he could fall out of love and back in love with golf, Ernie Els said, “You know what, I think I’m just a freak like everybody else, just like anybody else trying to get better.”

He was trying to get better — and maybe fall back in love with golf — after the Masters, where he had a six-putt quintuple bogey on the first hole during the opening round at Augusta National.

“And this week you’ll see my putting stats, I’m going to be top-20 in putting,” he said. “It’s there. I’ve just got to trust what I’m doing and just keep doing it.”

Just one bogey — No. 10 — on his scorecard Sunday. As for his relationship with golf?

“We love to get tortured, and we love to play good golf.”

This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 2:16 AM with the headline "RBC Heritage notebook: Jason Day bounces back during long stretch of golf."