World No. 1 Jason Day close to perfect, lead in opening round of RBC Heritage

The lone blemish came at the end.

Jason Day, the No.1 player in the world, teed off on No. 18 at Harbour Town Golf Links as the only golfer with a chance of besting Luke Donald and Branden Grace during Thursday’s opening round of the RBC Heritage presented by Boeing.

Day blasted his second shot into the greenside bunker. Buried. So much so that he and his caddie couldn’t find it.

“Whereabouts?” his caddie asked spectators in the stands to the right of the green.

Day eventually found it — the ball found its way under the grass lip at the front of the bunker. Unplayable. He took a drop, a one-stroke penalty.

He played his fourth shot from the center of the bunker and found the green. He made the 5-foot putt for bogey.

The bogey was the lone blemish on Day’s scorecard, a round that featured three birdies on the tougher back nine — even as the weather worsened during the afternoon. He finished the day with a 4-under 67, just one shot back of Donald and Grace. As he strolled around Harbour Town he looked relaxed. But after his round, as he talked about the day’s blemish, he warned of more bogeys to come.

His second shot on No. 18 was an “unlucky break,” he said. Earlier, on No. 17, he said he’d watched Webb Simpson “hit a wedge over the back of the green,” which gave pause to Day, Brandt Snedeker (2-over) and Bill Haas (2-under) — the other golfers in Day’s group.

“We’re sitting there going, ‘It must be pretty firm with the wind coming up the 18th,’” Day said.

It’s “difficult to feel what the wind is doing” on No. 18, Day said, because of the houses and trees on the right side of the fairway, across from Calibouge Sound. The trees all over the course make it tricky, he said. Hit your shot above them and see your ball affected by the wind.

The wind looks to be an issue Friday.

“They say it’s gonna gust, at times, over 40 miles an hour, 20 to 30 mile an hour winds with rain,” Day said. “It should be very difficult. … You just gotta suck it up, I guess.”

There were times when Day looked like he might be in trouble Thursday.

On the ninth, he found the bunker off the tee, but managed to get up and down.

On No. 12, he found the pine straw 297 yards down the right side of the fairway. But he hit a wedge to within 4 feet of the cup. Birdie.

Day did leave some shots on the course. Most notably, perhaps, was his par at the 13th.

After his tee shot traveled 293 yards and landed right between the two giant live oaks that flank the narrowest part of the fairway, he hit a wedge to within 9 feet of the hole. He missed the putt to the right, though, and settled for a tap-in par.

“I missed a couple, but for the most part I played very solid all day,” he said.

“And obviously the blemish is not the way I wanted to finish, but we’re gonna make bogeys this week … .”

This story was originally published April 14, 2016 at 8:29 PM with the headline "World No. 1 Jason Day close to perfect, lead in opening round of RBC Heritage."