Jason Day split with longtime caddie and mentor Colin Swatton to save their relationship

Jason Day, in the latest edition of caddie musical chairs, said he removed Colin Swatton, his longtime caddie, mentor, and father figure, from his looping duties to keep their relationship intact.

“I never wanted it to turn into a toxic relationship, where he’s taken me from where I was as a 12-year-old kid to where I am today and I’m not talking to him anymore,” Day told reporters ahead of Thursday’s start to the BMW Championship, the third leg of the FedEx Cup series, about his decision to remove Swatton from his bag.

Day, who has work to do to extend a lackluster 2017 season beyond this week’s event at Conway Farms Golf Club outside Chicago, will retain Swatton as his swing coach. In his stead on the course, Day, without a victory since the 2016 Players Championship and in danger of missing next week’s Tour Championship, will have high school friend Luke Reardon on his bag.

“Sometimes the chemistry just doesn’t work,” Day said. “I’m blaming him [Swatton] for nothing.”

In something of a trend on the PGA Tour, Day is the second high-profile player, after Rory McIlroy, to hire a buddy to loop for him, at least for this week. He may not make it to next week’s FedEx Cup finale, where only the top 30 get to vie for the $10 million jackpot. While Day will tee it up in the Presidents Cup in two weeks, he will have pro golfer David Lutterus handing him the sticks at Liberty National because Reardon’s visa will expire before then.

Day also did not rule out asking Swatton to pick up the bag again at some later date.

“It may be somewhere down the road where four months from now — I don’t even know how long it will be — but I can come back to him and say, ‘Look, man, I made a mistake and I need to come back and have you on the bag.’”

Day credits Swatton with saving his life after the two met at a golf school in Australia after Day lost his father at the age of 12. They have been a team since Day turned pro in 2006.

The relationship between the two began to fray earlier this season as Day plunged from first in the world rankings to his current spot at No. 9. When the bad feelings from inside the ropes began to spill over into their off-course friendship, Day knew it was time for a change.

“Everything is great when you win, but when you’re playing poorly, that’s when a true test of a relationship actually happens between a player and a caddie,” Day said. “It’s more my fault, really, because he’s out there trying to do the best job he can and, unfortunately, sometimes it just doesn’t work out no matter how hard he works.”

Day’s decision was just the latest in a series of stunning splits between players and caddies. Phil Mickelson got the ball rolling in June when he announced his breakup with Jim “Bones” Mackay after a successful 25-year relationship and installed his brother, Tim, as his looper. McIlroy parted from J.P. Fitzgerald, his bagman since 2008, in July, adding his best friend and best man, Harry Diamond, to his entourage.

Day, at 28th in FedEx Cup points, is in the best position of the three — all winless in 2017 — heading into Thursday’s BMW kickoff. Mickelson sits at No. 36 while McIlroy owns the 51st spot.