Jason Day is adamant practice makes perfect. The problem is, he hasn’t been able to have any.

Riddled with frustration since sustaining a thumb injury in February, the Australian golfer’s struggles continued in the opening round of the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational with a four-over 74, a distant 10 shots behind countryman and leader Marc Leishman.

But Day’s coach and caddy Col Swatton preferred to look at the positives, excited at the prospect of the pair finally being able to get back to the practice schedule needed to be at his best.

With a slight grip change, Day has been cleared to get back to full practice.

The pair estimated Day would have hit under 1000 golf balls in practice over the last five months when their ideal scenario would have been around 10,000.

“We are only just now getting to lay the foundation again and it can take around three weeks usually to bear the fruits of the labour,” Swatton said.

“Today wasn’t that far away out there. We had a penalty stroke for a moving ball on the green and hit two poor chips on one hole to blow out the score a little.

“But watch in the next few weeks. It has been an impressive show of talent that in the time he’s had next to no practice, he’s been competitive and even finished fourth in a major.

While not giving up on his chances in Ohio, the world No.9 will predominantly use the rest of the no cut tournament to sharpen his game for next week’s PGA Championship.

“It is a good opportunity to try to get some good preparation in for next week,” Day said.

“I want to be as sharp as I can heading to the major and then the FedEx Cup playoffs. Hopefully some of my best golf is not too far away.”