Follow us on Google Discover Ryan Gerard has suggested that Jason Day’s chipping is potentially the most impressive skill that any player on the PGA Tour has, as he encouraged everyone to follow the Australian during a practice round.
Day is certainly one of the greatest players his country has ever produced. The 38-year-old is a major champion, after his victory at the 2015 PGA Championship, while he also reached world number one around a similar time.
The last decade has been difficult for Day. He has had a number of injuries, while he has also suffered with vertigo out on the course.
Just one of Day’s 13 PGA Tour wins has come since the end of the 2018 season.
Ryan Gerard amazed by Jason Day’s short game
Nevertheless, there is no question at all that he is an incredible talent. As well as his victory at Whistling Straits, Day has also finished second in five major championships during his career.
He possesses such a remarkable mind when it comes to shots around the greens. In fact, when asked in an interview with Fried Egg Golf what one skill any player on tour has that amazes him, Ryan Gerard picked out Day’s short game.
“Jason Day’s chipping is unfathomably good. I could say the same about Denny McCarthy’s putting. I’ve watched Denny putt the eyes out of it, but then I’ve also listened to him talk at a clinic about how he putts, and for the life of me, I don’t understand a single word that he’s saying, but he just rolls the c— out of it,” he said.
Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
“But I’ve played with Jason a bunch this year, and he is probably the most creative player when it comes to chipping, pitching, bunker shots, stuff like that, and it’s because he feels so confident in where he’s going to land the ball. He feels like he’s got his landing spots so good that he’s not afraid to try and flop one over a bunker and land it in a strip of fringe that’s 18 inches wide to kill it. He knows he’s going to hit it there. So you see him hit all these shots that are really cool or have different spins, different trajectories. And I played with him at Bay Hill this year, we were both shooting a billion on Thursday, and he was hitting it all over the plot, and he was getting up and down.
“There’s a bunker on 14 at Bay Hill which is not even in play, and he’s not in the bunker, he’s in the left side of the bunker where there’s a palm tree growing out of it. And he hits this perfect little shot, and he hits it so good that he lands it in a sprinkler head and it rolls out 10 feet further than it should have, and he had eight feet. And it was like, ‘dude, how?’
“If you ever get a chance to go to a practice round, or if you ever have a Masters practice round, and you get a chance to watch Jason Day get creative around the greens, it’s special, man. It’s really, really cool.”
Jason Day’s short game has been a shining light in a difficult PGA Tour season
Having withdrawn from the Rocket Classic this week, it appears to be more than likely that Day will miss out on making the FedEx Cup playoffs.
He is currently 74th in the standings, so he will need a good week at the Wyndham Championship if he does play.
His short game has been one of the only positives from his season so far.
Day is currently fourth on the PGA Tour for strokes gained around the green. Worryingly, it is the only category where he finds himself inside the top 50.
He is outside the top 100 for strokes gained off the tee, approach, and tee to green. So the quality of his short game has been crucial this year in particular.
Hopefully, there are still plenty of better days to come for the Aussie.
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