For Day, the ability for a player to finish a Web.com season inside the top 25 requires a full commitment to the minor-league circuit. High finishes are required, and a player won't make it back to the big show with a collection of top-20's. Top-threes and top-fives are the order of the day.
So far, so good for Day in Boise. He opened with a sizzling 8-under 63 on Thursday, and has backed it up adequately Friday morning - going 1-under thru 10 in tougher conditions. Day finds himself in a tie for second, one shot back of leader Tyrone Van Aswegen.
A high finish this week is much needed for Day, who is currently mired at No. 95 on the money list. He has certainly committed to a Web.com schedule - this is his 14th event - but has not done much in terms of big weeks. His highest finish was a T16 in Indiana, where he cashed in with $8,250.
Day has made a total of $41,891 in his 13 completed Web.com events this year, with most of that money coming from his four top-25 finishes. He has almost reached his Web.com earnings total in just three PGA Tour events - making $38,850, despite failing to notch a top-25.
Simply put, the monetary difference is profound. For a guy like Day who knows what it's like to do well on the big tour (nearly $9 million in career earnings), it's easy to see how the prospect of grinding away in the minors can be tough.
Then again, the winner this week will cash in a check for over $130,000. That's still plenty of incentive to play well.
If Day can keep it up for the rest of the week, he'll be right there on Sunday afternoon.
Notes:
-Jeff Gove is riding the momentum train right now, after a summer of failure after failure on cutdown day. Gove matched Day with a Thursday 63, and is currently even on the day thru 6 holes, T4 and two shots back of the leader.
Still, Gove has plenty of work to do in the season's final events, if he wants to make up for the lost summer.
-Casey Martin struggled on his first nine (the back) on Thursday, capped off by a double bogey on 18 to push him over par on the day. But showing flashes of the young star he once was, Martin rebounded with a 4-under 32 on his final nine to post 3-under on the day. In search of his first made cut in six years (he has not played a Web.com event since 2006), Martin currently finds himself right on the cut line at 3-under.
Casey is a great story, and surely most everyone in golf is rooting for him.
-Kevin Johnson, on the other hand, has some work to do if he wants to stick around for the weekend. KJ opened at 2-under, right on the day-one cut line, but has struggled out of the gate on Friday. KJ bogeyed his first hoel and finished the nine at 1-over, leaving him 1-under on the event.
Heading into his back nine, KJ is two shots back of the cut. The cut line will likely move to 4-under, depending on afternoon weather, which means he might need a sizzling 32 on the back.
He certainly has the talent to string some birdies together. We'll see if he can.
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