Jason Day's White-Hot Putter Vaults Him Up Leaderboard in 2nd-Round Birdie-Fest

Like a blur, the charismatic kid appeared out of nowhere, bolting from the pack to add a jolt of adrenaline to an event that sorely needed it.

No, not Jason Day, per se.

We’re talking about the little dude who popped out of the gallery on the 17th hole after Day hit a risky, audacious recovery shot that he deftly picked off a muddy lie and threaded between a row of hospitality tents and a stand of decades-old trees.

A moment after Day, 28, struck the shot, which helped ensure that he finished the day two shots off the lead at the PGA Championship, a giddy little boy materialized out of thin air and planted himself in front of the Aussie star.

Day at first didn’t notice the kid, who was perhaps five years old and animatedly jumping up and down in his path. But he eventually smirked and gave the boisterous boy a deserving low-five palm slap.

A million fans knew exactly how the boy felt.

With a blistering rally in the middle of his round that included seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch, Day moved from the edge of irrelevance to become the prohibitive man to beat at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey.

Not to denigrate the two players at nine under who share the 36-hole lead (former Ryder Cupper Jimmy Walker and the largely unheralded Robert Streb), but Day’s five-under 65 and mid-round blitz generated a reverie that the season’s fourth major desperately needed.

On the same day that the area’s largest newspaper decried the event’s anemic buzz and sweltering heat, Day ventilated the scorecard.

After making an ugly double bogey on the seventh hole to fall back to even par overall—leaving him on the cusp of falling double digits behind Walker, who would briefly reach 10 under—the reigning world No. 1 reminded everybody that there are weapons in his toolbox that few players can match.

Thanks to the scintillating run of birdies, beginning with birdie putts of four, eight and 18 feet on Nos. 8-10, the PGA’s defending champion bolted back into contention. Mind you, last year, he broke the Grand Slam scoring record with a 20-under total at this event outside Milwaukee, so he can nuke fields when he’s in command of his game.

For two hours, Day almost didn’t miss, finishing at seven under overall, even though he again failed to birdie one of the two closing par-five holes.

“It was just better speed [on the greens] today, I think just being out there and hitting it on the line I was actually seeing,” Day said on the TNT broadcast. “I kind of got it on fire, especially after that double bogey that I had, I really had it going on the back side.”

Day’s infusion of energy was a much-needed combination of Red Bull and red numbers from a marquee player. After all, everybody knows how the New York-New Jersey fanbase worships its stars.

Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Paired alongside Rory McIlroy, who looked like he was wrestling a viper every time he grabbed his balky putter, Day poured in 142 feet of putts over 18 holes, according to a stat shown on the broadcast. A day earlier, he played better from tee to green but only holed 56 feet of putts, finishing with a 68.

“I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t birdie either of the par-fives, and I did that the same yesterday,” he said. “But I will save them for the weekend.”

Speaking for Streb, Walker and Day’s playing partner on Saturday, PGA Tour rookie Emiliano Grillo: Gulp.

As he's shown in the past, when his putter is firing, Day is a gangster with a golf club.

Given Day’s play and the array of firepower behind them—freshly minted Open Championship winner Henrik Stenson and two-time major champion Martin Kaymer are three and four strokes back, respectively—then they must be oblivious.

With Day lighting up the board with pyrotechnics, Streb—who also finished with the eight birdies like Day— paid the biggest price. He finished with a 63, matching the lowest round on record in a Grand Slam event. Trouble is, two guys did it two weeks ago at the British Open—megastars Stenson and Phil Mickelson. Almost nobody noticed, including the TV network, which was on a commercial break when Streb birdied the last hole to match the mark.

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

Walker played brilliantly most of the day and tied the PGA Championship record for the lowest 36-hole score at 131 strokes, but he three-jacked the 18th green when he had a chance to match the Grand Slam mark for lowest two opening rounds. Talk about an anti-climax.

Day stepped forward to fill the energy void with his unique blend of panache and charisma. Ninety percent of the crowd seemed to be shadowing Day and playing partners Mickelson and McIlroy. None of them had mustered much until Day doubled the seventh and gave himself a kick in the butt, as he put it.

“A few swear words inside my head,” he said of his internal pep talk. “Really, I played that hole so bad that it was really frustrating for me. ‘Why are you doing that? Why are you giving shots to the field when you don't need to do that?’”

Instead, he began taking shots back.

Now, if the PGA Tour’s biggest hypochondriac can just keep himself out of the pharmacy the rest of the way, he might be looking at consecutive PGA Championship titles, a feat last achieved by Tiger Woods in 2006-07.

Day showed up this week with another head cold. Hopefully he didn’t contract any mystery ailment by low-fiving the little lad on the 17th hole.

“I'm feeling pretty good,” he said. “I sweated it out over the last couple days.

“No excuses. Guys have won on worse. Tiger at the U.S. Open with a broken leg. I've got a cold. It's not the same. I'll be fine for the weekend.”

Steve Elling covers golf for Bleacher Report. You can follow him at @EllingYelling. All quotes are firsthand unless otherwise noted.