AUGUSTA , Ga. — It’s been a trying couple of days for Jason Day.

And yet he was tied for the lead at the Masters entering the weekend.

We all should have his problems.

On Thursday, minutes before his first-round tee time, Day bent down to kiss his daughter, Lucy, and threw out his back in the process.

“Obviously not the way you wanted to start this year’s Masters,’’ he said.

As he limped to the first tee, Day told his caddie, Luke Reardon, “If this stays the same pain as it was on the putting green, I’ll probably end up withdrawing.’’

By the second hole, Day was flat on his back being examined by a doctor.

He played on and somehow shot a 2-under-par 70 while moving gingerly around Augusta National looking like an 80-year-old at The Villages.

On Friday morning, after a night’s worth of chiropractor work, Day woke up in his RV and his back still wasn’t feeling great.

“I woke up and I was disappointed because I thought my back was going to be a lot better than what it was,’’ Day said. “My wife, Ellie … I looked at her and I was kind of moping a little bit in the bath and she’s like, ‘It’s the Masters, you need to suck it up.’

“I can’t complain about it too much. She’s birthed three children and I haven’t, so she’s a lot stronger as a person than me with regards
to pain. I just hit a little white golf ball around a course.’’

So Day sucked it up, went to Augusta National and hit the little while ball around to the tune of a 5-under-par 67 to take a share of the 36-hole lead along with Francesco Molinari, Brooks Koepka, Adam Scott and Louis Oosthuizen at 7-under.

Sometimes, distractions can be beneficial, and in this case for Day, it might help him win his first green jacket.

“A major, Augusta National, the Masters, everything that goes on this week, how big it is, and the distraction of wanting to win this tournament so bad … sometimes it’s almost a blessing in disguise with regards to it just brings down the expectation of going out there and trying too hard,’’ Day said.

“[Thursday] was great to be able to get through that, and I’m hoping that I can take the same attitude, even though I feel pretty healthy now, into the next two days and play well.’’

Day’s description of his protocol routines to alleviate the back issues that have nagged him since he was a teenager are as fascinating as they are bizarre.

“This is going to sound really weird,’’ he said. “My rib cage is out of position … so I blow into balloons in certain positions to try and get my ribcage down. I flew down to Florida this last week, and I met my trainer and we’re in the pilot’s lounge of this (airport) and there’s two pilots sitting next to me and I’m laying on the ground blowing these balloons up.

“And as you set the balloons go, it sounds like you’ve let one go [passed gas]. So every 30 seconds, I would be letting the balloons out and these guys are looking at me very strange. I’m just doing whatever I can to feel good. So if blowing in balloons is what I need to do to feel good, then I will do it all day long.’’

If blowing into balloons will get Day a green jacket, count him in.

Before the tournament, while speaking to fellow golfer Michael Campbell, Day told him he felt like he’s 31 going on 50.

“Sometimes I wake up and I feel like I’m 50, sometimes I wake up and I feel like I’m 70 and sometimes I wake up and feel like I’m 18 again,’’ Day said. “I feel a lot more optimistic now than I did [Thursday], and I’m hoping that — bar some outrageous thing that could possibly happen — I feel this good going into Saturday and Sunday.’’