Jason Day learns lesson in underestimating youth

Come Saturday night the Australian Open was over. Not as good as. Was

Lucas Herbert plays from the rough during the final round of the Australian Open yesterday. Picture: Brett Costello

Come Saturday night the Australian Open was over. Not as good as. Was. Jason Day, former No 1 in the world, major winner, confident young man, is built more for ­boxing than golf but strikes the ball like no boxer ever has.

His third round was a two-under 69 and followed opening rounds of 66 and 68 to push him one shot ahead of Lucas Herbert, 21, a professional for barely two years. Herbert, closer to a card on the Tour de France than any of the golfing tours that dot the globe, stuck enlighteningly tight to Day, shooting par 71. He is, no matter what the result might be, a ­talented player we need to watch.

The kid had begun the third day in the lead, he finished it one shot behind. Day spoke about a grisly day of golf on the morrow, made for grim, hardened winners. “That’s the thing, you have to learn to love the lead. A lot of guys through some of their careers have learnt to win from behind because there’s less pressure being out in front, but I mean, this is a great position to be in. You always learn from being in this position, ­regardless of what tournament it is. Day had fallen out of love for the lead before the first nine was done with yesterday at The Australian.

And you fancy all the curious talk was as much for his own ­benefit as anyone he might have been trying to intimidate. Day has not won this year.

“For me, as a professional golfer that’s been around for a while now, it’s easier for me to stand back and go OK, I need to be patient and not try and do too many kind of, not be aggressive is what I’m trying to say, I guess. It’s easy to try and force the issue out there. I only ­really made one kind of, it wasn’t really a bad swing, on 17 I hit my 2-iron just down the right and that’s a tough hole because you can hit a 2-iron kind of over that tree on that left and it can run out into the water, so, it’s very touch and go with the line that you take,” Day said. Herbert apparently didn’t hear that bit because he was still within a shot of Day come the end of the tournament.

It was all drivel anyway. From beginning to end except for a ­couple of holes at the start which seemed to play to Day’s philosophy. Day and Herbert was the last grouping yesterday and ­Herbert birdied the first. No change in the demeanour. Nerves? Nuh. Day sunk his birdie putt of 2m. Seventeen holes to go. Have to do better than birdies, son. The third hole was poorly played. Both pulled and smothered their second and finished with bogies. The Lord giveth, the Lord ... The first crack in “Winning Golf In A Jason Day” had ­appeared.

In all this puffing of chests someone had been forgotten. In truth quite a few fine golfers had been. The first-round leader ­Cameron Davis, who shot 63 on Thursday to take the course ­record off Jordan Spieth, was one. Matt Jones, the 2015 Australian Open winner, was another. Jonas Blixt, who ran out of “i”s before he did holes yesterday, had won three times on the PGA tour. And ­somewhere in all of that was a bloke called Jordan Spieth, who has never quite worked out where to put the one “i” that he has. Ultimately Day would finish three shots off the lead and ­Herbert four. Spieth nearly caught them after a final 67. The games of our overnight leaders cracked and crumbled as Day had promised that his, at least, wouldn’t. Davis, 63 in the first round remember, shot a seven under 64 in the last to win with a total of 11 under par. He had come from eight shots back. Jones and Blixt could not extract the eagles from the 18th that they needed to force a play-off. Indeed this had been a day of exquisite golf. All but tingling sport. It proves once more and comprehensively that scores alone are chapter headings. The plot in between, how it is ­conceived, how it is confronted and how it either consumes or cowers, is the essence of sport. Be it darts or bowls or golf.

Davis had a simple plan. Score when the wind was still in bed. Make the rest of the field chase him when it was up and ­breakfasted. Davis, heading back to the US soon to further fight for a tour card, began according to plan. A birdie on the first, another on the third, another on the fifth and a front nine done in 32. Three under par as the trees began to bend and ­whistle.

Another birdie on the 10th, his remarkable eagle on the par four 12th when he managed to get his flipped wedge to spin back all but the length of the green and crash into the pin and drop. The Lord giveth and Davis did a jig

Two shots gained and he was 10 under par. No Day, no Herbert, but others, discarded overnight, were summoning a charge, ­promising peril even as the wind blew from here one shot and then blew the other way for the next. Spieth said later his ball was blown this way and that — on the putting green. Jones, Blixt, Smith and ­momentarily Day again had formed a posse out to reel in Davis. Day eagled the 14th, a 517m par 5, with a sweetly hit putt but he could not break par on the four holes in. By the 18th he had given up and not just the lead. Drained and ­disappointed he played the final hole as though his plane had begun to load.

This had been fine sport. Day had talked it up and then his clubs played it down. But he strived ­intensely until he knew all was lost. Herbert looked as though he could handle the pressure of last-day contention but ultimately failed. Davis just set a plan and chased his dream. He was tough, too, when it was required, dropping a 3m birdie putt on the last to make his ­position impregnable.

On Saturday night Day said: “I think the biggest thing for me is if I can hit, shoot anything in the 60s, I think that will help kind of seal the deal hopefully. I’m not too sure what the scores are, I know that I’m leading by one. I’ve just got to focus on myself and just get myself around the golf course and not try and do anything too crazy.”

He hadn’t understood his own fragility or taken seriously the skill and courage of Davis. Expect that might be the last time anyone makes that mistake.