Jason Day

The oft-injured Aussie found the winner's circle recently (AT&T Byron Nelson) but missed the cut at Oak Hill. As we've seen over the course of his career, it's rare to see a prolonged stretch of good health and that narrative is popping up again. He told Bill Rabinowitz of the Columbus Dispatch that he's dealing with a bone bruise in his wrist but that he still expects to tee it up this week. "I'm going to do everything I can to play." Despite his local knowledge, Day has underperformed at Muirfield Village over the course of his career. He does have some good recent results, though, with a T7 at the 2020 Workday Charity Open and T4 at the 2020 Memorial Tournament. 

The Aussie snapped a five-year winless drought last week at TPC Craig Ranch. The win was a long time coming as he was trending toward a victory for most of the year. While it's great to see the big finish before a major, it also took a lot out of him. "Obviously a little bit tired. So I don't know if that's going to affect me preparation-wise. Well, I know that it will affect me preparation-wise, I just probably won't be able to prepare as well as I need to. I know that I have to focus on making sure that I get enough rest today and get into it tomorrow." He went on to say that he hasn't played a practice round this week at Oak Hill and likely won't play today, either. On the bright side, Day did play well here (pre-renovation) with a T8 at the 2013 PGA Championship.

The Aussie has been trending toward this win all season but had a slight setback with a rough finishing round at the Masters and a missed cut at Quail Hollow. He got back on track this week in a big way, gaining 10.9 strokes tee-to-green (1st) en route to 26 birdies (T1), erasing a trio of bogeys. "I've had a lot of injuries with my back, and for a moment there I thought I wasn't going to play again, and just trying to get through those two years of just trying to get through a tournament was difficult. To be on the other side of it, be healthy, feeling good about my game, finally winning again, yeah, no better feeling, really." Add to his story, this was also his first Mother's Day since losing his mom last year. This win has been a long time coming and there is no reason to expect to him slow down anytime soon. 

The Aussie had a bout with Vertigo in round four of the Masters and then returned to action last week at the Wells Fargo Championship. He was going along nicely but a late double bogey dropped him below the cutline. He didn't let that bother him today as ranked 11th in strokes gained tee-to-green and 19th in putting. In his post-round presser he mentioned that he's played whack-a-mole with different parts of his game not lining up on the same week but he's flipped that narrative through 18 holes at TPC Craig Ranch. He's searching for his first win since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.