ESNY

While Jason Day was unable to break through on the Final Day of the US Open, the fact he was even able to play was more remarkable.

By Patrick Comia

If you weren’t a fan of Jason Day before this week, odds are you became one on Sunday.

Two days after experiencing a collapse on the ninth hole at the 115th U.S. Open on Saturday, Jason Day willed himself through the weekend, probably feeling lost and out of touch with reality at times. However, amazingly enough, his courage to get through the third round on Saturday gave him a realistic shot at the title of US Open champion.

In case you missed it, during Round 2 Day had experienced vertigo symptoms on his way up the ninth green of Chambers Bay Golf Course, located south of Seattle, WA. Here was the incident that occured:

With doubts surrounding the Australian golfer as to whether or not he would make the his 3 pm local tee time with then-leader Dustin Johnson, he answered them with his presence on the first tee.

They were later put to rest after his first tee shot split the fairway. Once his golf ball landed in the short grass of the first fairway, he went down to pick up his tee and showed the fans in attendance that he was OK.

However, there were noticeable adjustments in Day’s actions away from the golf ball. Taking advice from medical personnel, he tried to maintain a level head and avoided, as much as possible from looking down. Much of the round, Day was seen holding up his yardage book to eye level to avoid looking down or bending his neck, which may cause the symptoms to come back.

Day was also making it habit to widen his eyes as much as he could to help fight the affects. As he traversed the meandering of the golf course, which was a whole other story, his caddy tried to keep things as level for him as possible, electing to take the walkways to avoid escalating to high ground. In the Final Round, Day elected to take the steps put forth by the USGA to get from part of the course to other, in most cases from hole to hole.

He was seen using the railings for balance, taking his time to gather himself. If you watched the broadcast yesterday, you could see that Day was fighting the lingering affects and trying to shake them off.

As Day started his round at -4, he parred the first five holes. He even had a chance to a one-shot lead on the third hole, but his putt missed to the left of the cup. The sixth through seventh holes were bogeyed in back to back fashion, putting Day at -2. On the eighth hole, he was able to get a shot back and get to -3.

He could have gotten back to even after his tee shot found the back of the ninth green and rolled back towards the cup, resting about five feet away. Unfortunately, he missed the birdie putt and he stayed two shots behind the leader.

Then, he faded from contention on the back nine, starting with a bogey on the tenth hole. After parring 11 and 12, he double-bogeyed 13 to put him at even for the tournament. He was never able to recover his lost shots on the back nine, even though he played the holes -3 for the week.

In the end, Day finished five shots behind the eventual winner Jordan Spieth at -5.

In what could have become the most courageous individual wins by a golfer since Tiger Woods won the 2008 U.S. Open on one leg, Day was unable to hold on and fell out of contention, perhaps from the events of Friday through the weekend weighed on him. It may have been to much to bear.

Still, there is no taking away at what he tried to accomplish in the Final Round.

If for nothing else, he has gained a bit more fans in the galleries at future golf tournaments and hopefully gained respect and admiration from his fellow golfers.

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I'm a blogger trying to make it in this world. Have been, and always will be, a fan of the NYR and NYG. Writing for the New Jersey Devils cause, well, someone has to do it!