Night and Day at Sawgrass

17 May 2016 - 02:00 By JAMES CORRIGAN

With Jason Day's seventh win in his past 17 starts and second wire-to-wire victory of the season, it was inevitable that someone was going to evoke the memories of Tiger Woods after Day's latest stroll at the Players Championship.Yet the fact that it was Adam Scott, a golfing thoroughbred who lived and suffered through the Tiger era, who did it shows what his rivals think of the world No1 right now.Impressive about Day's four-shot win over American Kevin Chappell was how he made the most headway in easy conditions, then was the toughest when they turn treacherous.If the first two rounds were about him faultlessly going through the gears to post a record halfway mark, the final two saw him grinding and refusing to go into reverse when the brakes slammed on. Now there can and will be absolutely no doubt who is the world's No1. The 28-year-old's superiority is undisputed.Sir Nick Faldo compared Day to Ben Hogan. What he meant is that the Australian has no apparent weaknesses in his game. He is up there with the best drivers, iron players and short game merchants. And now he must be considered the best front-runner. Day simply never looked back even when Sawgrass bared its teeth, snapped at his heels and insisted that he should.Countryman Scott was so impressed he even dared mention the "T" word when reflecting on the Day Odyssey, which stretches back to last year's Open."That's Tiger-esque, that kind of a run," Scott said."It's that thing I always try to explain: how good you feel after one win, and I try to imagine how good Tiger felt playing five years into his pro career having won 50 events. Jason must be feeling something like that."Woods was the last player to record multiple outright wire-to-wire wins in a PGA Tour season.While Spieth missed the cut on one-under, Day broke Greg Norman's 22-year-old 36-hole Sawgrass record by reaching halfway at 15-under. If the greens had not suddenly turned marble in the third round he could have challenged Norman's record total of 24-under.As it is, Day has forged a big rankings lead and is the clear favourite for next month's US Open.- © The Daily Telegraph..

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