3 minute read
Open contender Jason Day may not enjoy playing in miserable weather conditions, but he's good at it and will thrive if it gets wild and windy at Royal Troon.
Jason Day's wife Ellie reckons he is a "mud runner", the sort of bloke who, in the wet, wind and rain out on the golf course when the going gets really tough, really just gets going.
And even though the man himself professes to hate playing in those sort of conditions, Day would accept the wilder the weather gets at Royal Troon in the British Open finale this weekend, the more it's likely to suit him right down to the ground.
The fickle weather at the Ayrshire links course has already seen conditions change fairly dramatically from one hour to the next over the first two days, so nobody can forecast with any great certainty how the weather gods will treat the denouement to the 152nd edition.
There's predictions of more rain over the weekend and the potential for more of the stiff winds that stiffed some of the later competitors on Friday.
Yet former PGA champ Day, who's in a handy position in joint seventh-place, just six shots adrift of leader Shane Lowry, is trusted by his closest circle to be a man for all seasons, someone who can thrive in the most challenging of conditions.
Take last year's final round at Royal Liverpool. In atrocious, rain-sodden conditions at Hoylake, Day ground out a 69 that elevated him from third to a joint-runner's up spot behind runaway winner Brian Harman.
"My agent Bud (Martin), when it's like terrible weather and I'm dreading going out, he goes, 'you love that weather. It's perfect for you'," smiles Day.
"I'm like, 'yeah, it's nice for you sitting in bloody player dining at 72 degrees!'
"My wife calls me a mud-runner. Typically when the weather gets worse, I start playing a bit better.
"I don't know why. I actually dislike playing in bad weather, but I just feel like most people, their attitude just gets worse, and you know that if you can kind of have a good attitude, that you'll play better in the end.
"Plus, I've got a good short game, for the most part."
All of which has served him well over the first two days, with Day not dropping a shot in his second-round, three-under-par 68 on Friday.
"It's going to be difficult," Day said of conditions over the weekend as he offered his best weatherman impression.
"We're going to have rain tomorrow from what the forecast is. I know the wind is going to be a little bit down, because of the rain, but once you're dealing with that type of element, the ball starts to kind of square off everywhere.
"Then we're back to some wind on Sunday.
"So, it's just like you kind of just wake up and take it as you're going along."
Day's in his 12th Open, but doesn't have the greatest memories of his only other appearance at Troon back in 2016 when, as the then world No.1, he astonished the galleries by shanking one approach like a 24-handicapper during his underwhelming performance.
"It happens. It's not that bad," he protested at the time. "I can understand why; we've got three layers on, we've got wind we're dealing with, and we're hitting it out of the rough."
Clearly, the 'mud-runner' has had eight years more experience since then.
