PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The biggest change Jason Day made this year was a series of text messages and phone calls with Colin Swatton, his longtime coach who was a father figure to him when Day was 12.
They had stopped working together seven years ago, but toward the end of last year, Day realized he needed a set of eyes instead of relying on his own feels and instincts.
And he felt fortunate Swatton had time to take him back on as a client.
“I had zero idea what was going on,” Day said at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he contended until a late double bogey and wound up in a tie for eighth.
“Even though I know a good chunk of swing stuff, it’s nice to have someone kind of standing over your shoulder, guiding you where you need to be, just kind of keeping you in the bumper rails,” he said. “Because that’s the last thing you need as a player is to do it by yourself.”
He first had to check to see if Swatton had time from his work as a TV commentator and coaching Karl Vilips of Australia, who won the Puerto Rico Open last week. Day and Swatton didn’t work in person until the week before Bay Hill, mostly biomechanics and putting technique.
“We’ve got a lot of history together, so it’s nice to be able to pull the old-school team back,” Day said. “It’s nice to be able to have a team that really cares about what I’m trying to achieve out on the golf course.”
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