I’m swinging really well.
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The world number two, who has also won the WGC – Bridgestone Invitational and the BMW Championship in recent months, will also be crowned FedExCup champion if he secures overall glory at East Lake Golf Club, and he has put his impressive recent form down to hard work. “I had some close looks that I didn t make”. “Through the exercise that I’ve been doing, that bulged disc. has actually come in, which is kind of a miracle because. you’re thinking that it’s either going to stay the same or get worse”.
The season-ending Tour Championship is the only event on tour that hands out two trophies — one to the tournament victor and another to the victor of the season-long FedExCup points race.
Hideki Matsuyama had six birdies and Kevin Chappell has avoided bogeys to reach Johnson at 4 under raised during a round at East Lake on Thursday.
“Jason has a strained ligament in his lower right back with muscle spasm”, said manager, Bub Martin. Day withdrew as a precautionary measure and is expected to be fine after some offseason rest.
Day was just three shots off the lead but in the midst of making a mess of the eighth hole he chose to pull the pin, ending his chances of winning the season-long FedEx Cup and US$10million bonus.
“There was a couple of drives out there where – just off the top of the transition, felt a bit of a sharp pain in my back”, Day has said after round one. I made some really sloppy swings and poor shots.
Day was fourth in the standings before his withdrawal while second placed Patrick Reed is 10 shots off Johnson’s lead.
Scotland’s Russell Knox, who had expressed his determination to win the FedEx Cup title after controversially missing out on a Ryder Cup wild card, was a shot behind McIlroy after adding a 66 to his opening 73.
He was talking of the birdies he sank, three on the spin on the outward nine, four on the bounce coming home. “I didn’t drive it well, I got unlucky a few times just missing the fairways in some awful lies and hit some sloppy iron shots”.
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“But it also just shows that if you play a punishing schedule and if you are carrying any sort of injury through the season, it’s very hard”. Four holes later, Johnson’s drive nearly struck Sky Sports on-course reporter Wayne Riley, a former professional who took his on-course role a little too literally by wandering down the fairway instead of staying in the rough. “It just hurts. I mean, it is what it is”.
