Red-hot Day leads BMW Championship by 4

Australia's Jason Day was more than satisfied to polish off a 10-under par-61 on Friday, after flirting with a 59 in the weather-disrupted first round of the BMW Championship.

Day needed an eagle at his final hole, the par-four ninth at Conway Farms, to record golf's magic number, and it was looking unlikely when he hit his tee shot into the right rough moments before inclement weather halted play on Thursday evening.

The 45-yard pitch shot he faced when he returned to the course on Friday was even tougher after overnight rain. He settled for a par and wasn't complaining about his four-stroke lead over a group of players that included Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth.

"It sounds like everyone is disappointed," Day said after signing for a career-best 61. "I'm like, jeez."

"Selfishly, 59 would have been great, but right now I'm just trying to focus on winning the tournament. Only a handful of guys have shot 59, and I understand what the history is about that, but right now winning the tournament is more important."
Day -- who could grab the world number one ranking with a win in the penultimate event in the US PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs, had nine birdies, one eagle and a bogey.

The 27-year-old Australian, whose four wins this year include his breakthrough major at the PGA Championship, already tops the standings in the FedEx Cup -- the playoff race capped by next week's Tour Championship where a $10 million bonus will be on offer to the series winner.

Spieth, still very much in the playoff hunt despite back-to-back missed cuts, played alongside Day -- and almost holed out his approach shot at their finishing hole on Friday en route to a birdie that gave him his share of second.

After a round that included a hole-in-one on Thursday, Spieth was tied with tour rookie Daniel Berger, two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Kevin na and Justin Thomas.

Day said he didn't realize on Thursday that he was so close to shooting 59 -- because he was thinking Conway Farms was a par-72 rather than a par-71.

But there was no mistaking the signficance of the occasion when a crowd of media gathered for the resumption of his round.

"It was a bit weak," Spieth quipped of Day's shot. "I mean, for a 59, being able to place it in the rough and softer greens, you know, you would have liked to see a better chance.

"But I've come to expect not-great things from him lately," added Spieth, who was out-dueled by a record-setting Day at the PGA Championship last month. "So it didn't really surprise me."
Source: AFP