Jason Day Rested for Round 1 at the PGA Championship Then Fired a 76

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — With a win last week at the AT&T Byron Nelson, 35-year-old Jason Day broke a five-year drought.

But winning can come at a cost and it’s very possible that cost for Day was a 6-over 76 in the first round of the PGA Championship.

“I do feel a little bit fatigued,” Day said to Sports Illustrated after a round that did not include a birdie. “It's been two weeks in a row, but I'm not going to use that as an excuse.”

Day went on to say he has won back-to-back before, but that was much earlier in a career that has struggled with back issues.

Now seemingly fully healed, his age is slowly becoming a factor and this week at Oak Hill is not for the faint of heart.

“I didn't hit it that great, I actually hit quite poorly,” Day said, blaming his driver for most of the mishaps. “When I did give myself up there, I didn't really give myself a lot of opportunities at all.”

Earlier in the week, Day made the pronouncement that he was not going to play a practice round on the course, because he felt it would just fatigue him.

Now after his poor performance, would Day rethink that philosophy?

“The way that I that I feel now, obviously I’m like, fatigued, but if I would have gone out and practiced more, it's just hard to say,” Day said. “Sometimes you can go for a workout after a hard week and that actually kind of energizes you. And sometimes it actually makes it worse. So, it's hard to kind of speculate and say, one way or another. I wish I could, but I just don't know.”