Rickie Fowler, Jason Day find old form at WM Phoenix Open

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – You look at the WM Phoenix Open leaderboard and nod in recognition.

Scottie Scheffler (64, 10 under) and Jon Rahm (66, 8 under) are in first and second place, respectively.

You also look at the leaderboard and arch your eyebrows.

Jason Day (71, four back) and Rickie Fowler (66, five behind), who have been where Scheffler and Rahm are now – contending regularly and feeling the thrilling/terrible nerves of it – are not far behind.

“I miss … those feelings on Saturdays and Sundays,” Day said after playing 26 holes Friday, eight of them to complete his frost-delayed first round (65). “Typically when I'm in the mix on Sundays I get no sleep (Saturday) night. I miss that.”

Halfway through the WM Phoenix Open, the leaderboard features two guys at the top, world Scheffler and Rahm – each could reclaim No. 1 depending on what Rory McIlroy does – and two in Day and Fowler who remember what the top was like.

Scheffler and Rahm are world Nos. 2 and 3, respectively; Day and Fowler are 91st and 100. Their disparate fortunes shine a light on how good you have to be to reach the pinnacle of the sport, and how hard it is to get back once you’ve slipped.

“It's coming,” said Fowler, who went back to Butch Harmon late last year and has three finishes of T11 or better in six starts this season. “But it's kind of – (the struggle is) part of it.

“Unfortunately,” he added, “been on the bad side of it for a little longer than we would like to, for sure. No one stays at the stop. You never stay at your best.”

Rahm, 28, has been one of the best since he turned pro in 2016. He won his first PGA TOUR event, the Farmers Insurance Open, and cracked the top 10 in the world in less than a year. Last month he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express and contended again at the Farmers (T7). He won twice on the DP World Tour at the end of last season and has never finished worse than T16 in seven starts here.

What surprised him Friday was running into his mom and grandma at the rowdy 16th hole.

“Unexpected,” he said. “Very unexpected. I'm glad I didn't know until I hit the shot, honestly, because otherwise I think I would have tried too hard for my grandma to hit a good shot.”

Surprise or not, it went well: Rahm hit his tee shot to 7 feet, 7 inches and made the birdie putt.

Scheffler got his first win at last year’s WM Phoenix Open, touching off a four-wins-in-six-starts run that earned him the No. 1 world ranking. His only surprise Friday came at the same hole, 16, which he nearly aced, only to watch as a gust of wind blew his ball off the green. He was still trying to figure out what happened after the round, asking for eyewitnesses.

“It landed four paces left of the pin and was cutting,” he said. “It should have been probably six feet on left side of the hole. It ended up being like 20 feet off the green. It was weird.”

Like Rahm and Scheffler, Day, 35, is a former world No. 1, getting there when he won eight times in 2015 and 2016, including the PGA Championship (’15) and THE PLAYERS Championship (’16). Today his body is day to day and even minute to minute, and he’s working with instructor Chris Como to find a swing that won’t hurt his brittle back.

Fowler, 34, who in addition to changing coaches also changed caddies (Joe Skovron to Ricky Romano) late last season, finished in the top 10 in all four majors in 2014 and reached a career-best world No. 4 in 2016.

Each sees a bit of himself in the other – Fowler won THE PLAYERS in 2015 – and they’re pulling for one another.

“I love Jason,” Fowler said. “He's as good a guy as there is.”

They’ve got work to do to catch Scheffler and Rahm, who are making it look easy at TPC Scottsdale, even in the wind. Take it from Day and Fowler, two guys who know the terrain at the top: It’s not easy at all, especially after you’ve fallen.