Maybe Jason Day should have called Tiger Woods back after all.
Jason Day gets off to poor Travelers start after ignoring Tiger Woods’ offer of help
Tiger Woods took time out from his injury and medication rehab to reach out with some tips, but Jason Day was too angry with himself to get back to his mentor.
Day missed the cut at last week’s U.S. Open and got off to a sluggish start in Thursday’s opening round of the Travelers Championship with a double bogey-6 on his third hole (No.12). He told reporters a day earlier that he was too pissed off at himself to call his mentor back after receiving a message from Woods offering advice after his protege shot a 79 last Thursday at Erin Hills.
“He texted me after I shot 79 and said, ‘Hey, before you work on something call me because I saw something,’” Day told Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard on Wednesday about Woods, who was arrested last month for DWI and announced last week he was getting “professional help” with managing his medications.
“I was like, ‘Yeah, you saw 79 shots,’” Day recounted. “I didn’t call him because I was so angry.”
Woods, who has not played a competitive event since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic in February, was charged with driving under the influence after police found him asleep at the wheel of his car early on the morning on May 29 in Jupiter, Fla. He told arresting officers he had taken a pill cocktail that included Vicodin and Xanax.
How’d the Travelers draw all these stars to Hartford?
Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images
Day is making his TPC River Highlands debut alongside another Travelers rookie, Rory McIlroy, and last week’s Mr. 63, Justin Thomas. McIlroy, another member of a generation of golfers who grew up idolizing the fallen superstar, said he had contacted Tiger recently to check on his well-being.
“It’s a tough one,” McIlroy said following his Wednesday pro-am. “I reached out to him whenever everything broke a few weeks ago just making sure he’s okay.
“I feel like I have built a good relationship with Tiger over the last few years. He’s been through a rough time the last few years with injuries and not being able to sleep,” said McIlroy, who also missed the cut at the U.S. Open last week. “I totally understand how that can happen, so it’s good that he’s getting help. It’s good that he’s on the road to recover I guess, and I guess everyone in golf and around the world just wishes him the best.”
McIlroy, who has taken heat for injuring himself by emulating Woods’ rigorous workout routine, set that record straight, and needled a certain brash golf analyst for disrespecting Thomas’ record-setting third-round score at Erin Hills. This, not long after dismantling a washed-up PGA Tour hack over Twitter for calling him “bored” at the U.S. Open.
“Honestly, I haven’t lifted a weight all year, and it’s tough for me to come out and sort of say I don’t,” McIlroy said. “The most I’ve lifted in the gym is 15 pounds this year because of my injury. I’m nowhere near as strong as I used to be. I’m not. But I don’t need to be. I feel like physically if I’m stable and I’m strong in the right areas, I’m okay.
”So at least I can’t be criticized for that this year,” added McIlroy, who was tied with Thomas at 1-under after five holes on Thursday.
The former world No. 1 and 2 was in Jason Dufner’s corner when it came to Johnny Miller and others downplaying the achievement of Thomas, who fired the lowest score relative to par at a U.S. Open with his nine-under. He believes that those ripping him for getting ripped and belittling Thomas’ accomplishment are living in the past.
”Even what Justin Thomas did last week, shooting 63, everyone compares it to something somebody did in the ‘70s. It’s like why do we have to do that?” McIlroy wondered. “Why can’t we just see it as what it is, an unbelievable score. Nine under, the lowest score ever shot in the U.S. Open, and leave it at that. Not have to compare it back in the day when people think golf was better, not better, whatever.”
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