Jason Day announces Bridgestone golf ball deal thanks to Tiger Woods
Jason Day has signed a golf-ball only equipment deal with Bridgestone after liking what he saw from one of Tiger Woods' practise sessions.
It is no surprise Jason Day and Tiger Woods mix in the same circles.
Afterall, former world number one Day used to be an equipment staffer with Woods at TaylorMade until he announced the split last January.
And now it seems that Day might have Woods to thank after he announced a deal with Bridgestone to play their Tour B X in competition.
Day spent 51 weeks as the world number one and apparently asked Woods for a sleeve of Bridgestone golf balls two years ago.
He was of course under contract then with TaylorMade so could not publicly talk about his little experiment. But he liked what he saw.
The news was first reported by Golf. When Day first left TaylorMade, he appeared at Torrey Pines last January with a very mixed golf bag.
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He played with a PING G425 driver, Mizuno JPX 921 Tour irons, Artisan Prototype wedges and an Odyssey White Hot 2-Ball putter.
Back then, he also favoured the Bridgestone XS golf ball. That was after he watched Woods use the high spinning ball around the greens.
Day told Golf.com: "We were doing some short game work with Tiger's ball, the XS, and it caught my attention right away.
"I initially played the XS and liked it but after working with Bridgestone's R&D team and really learning about the ball fitting process, it was obvious that the Tour B X was the best fit for my game."
He added: "Every day I look at what I can do to get better and the choice to play Bridgestone feeds right into that.
"Personally, I feel kind of like I am cheating playing this ball. Of course, I'm not but it's that good.
"The performance of the Tour B affords me opportunities to be aggressive; off the tee, the ball speed is there but it's still super spinny around the green, which is a nice combination."
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Bridgestone have a number of tour players currently on staff. As well as Woods, they have Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Kuchar, Lexi Thompson and Fred Couples.
Their fitting manager, Adam Rehberg, told My Golf Spy: "The Tiger ball doesn't fit everybody. It can be way too spinny, even for a guy like Jason Day.
"He already had plenty of spin around the greens, but he found with the XS he was getting some floaty shots with his 6- through 9-irons. The X was a little more stable for him."
Day reportedly returned to Bridgestone for a fitting after getting his swing speed back up.
Although he has not won on the PGA Tour in quite some time, his swing these days looks a lot less violent.
His trials and tribulations have been well documented after issues with his back. He is currently ranked 92nd in the world.
Day showed us glimpses of what he used to be capable of at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year.
He was well in contention down the stretch but in the end Tom Hoge claimed his first PGA Tour win.
The last time he won a PGA Tour event was at the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.
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