Jason Day collapses due to vertigo in US Open

Joy Chakravarty 10:14 20/06/2015
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  • Tough times: Jason Day has been suffering from severe dizziness.

    There was high drama on the ninth hole of Chambers Bay yesterday when Australia’s world No10 Jason Day collapsed to the ground during the second round of the US Open.

    The 27-year-old Day, who had moved to three-under par for the tournament and was just two shots outside the lead, was walking from the elevated tee towards the greenside bunker on the par-3, which was his last hole for the day after starting from the 10th tee.

    Apparently, it was another attack of vertigo, something that been bothering Day, and he suddenly buckled and collapsed on the green. He was quickly attended to by paramedics and was heard on television saying that the incident was related to “vertigo I’ve had for a while”.

    Day got up unsteadily after several minutes, and then walked to the bunker with the help of his caddie.

    He still had enough presence of mind to remove a small stone that was behind his ball in the sand.

    He then blasted out to 15 feet above the hole and failed to make the return par for a bogey and a round of 70 that saw him finish at two-under par at the halfway stage.

    He was rushed to the hospital after submitting his card. Day spoke to Australian legend and FOX commentator Greg Norman before getting into the medical van.

    Norman said ‘his eyes were darting around’, but that Day assured him it was a case of vertigo and that he should be back to finish the tournament over the weekend.

    Day, who has had two top-five finishes in the US Open in four previous starts including a tied second place at the 2013 championship at Merion, had earlier withdrawn before the start of the Byron Nelson Championship last month due to severe dizziness.

    In his press conference, Day revealed he had undergone numerous tests to try to identify the cause.

    “I had three sleep studies done. I had a lot of blood tests done. I had an MRI on my head and my neck and everything came back negative,” Day said.

    “So I have no idea what that was, other than I just may have been exhausted. I was training so hard, I was doing two-a-days every day coming into tournaments and then on top of it I was doing practice, playing competitive golf and then trying to balance that with family as well.

    “It’s just a full-time kind of gig there and I think I just ran out of gas and I wasn’t feeling good. And the loss of energy was probably caused by that. I’ve got severe sleep deprivation, so I guess that’s part and parcel of having a kid.”

    Meanwhile, his playing partner Jordan Spieth birdied the last hole to finish with a round of three-under par 67 that gave him the clubhouse lead at five-under par 135.

    Former world No1 Tiger Woods endured another tough day on the golf course and a six-over par 76 saw him miss only his second US Open cut.

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