Day looking for reboot after winless PGA Tour

JASON Day will eye his return to Australia as a chance to reboot after squandering his last chance to avoid a winless US PGA Tour season.

A poor final round of fourover 74 at the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta yesterday left the world No.6 a distant 10 shots behind winner Xander Schauffele, after he’d shared the lead during the third round.

Schauffele carded a 68 for a 12-under 268 total and a oneshot victory from Justin Thomas (66), whose runnerup finish was enough to clinch the $12.5 million FedEx Cup points series title ahead of Jordan Spieth.

For 29-year-old Day, the East Lake Golf Club tournament was a snapshot of a disappointing season, capping a series of missed opportunities this year which have resulted in him drifting since his 47week stint as world No.1.

In August, Day let slip a chance to bag a second career major at the US PGA Championship when a puzzling choice to go for the green from the trees on the last hole of the third round led to a quadruple bogey and opened the door for Thomas to claim victory.

In May, the Ohio-based Queenslander lost in a sudden death playoff to Billy Horschel at the Byron Nelson Classic, when he missed a relatively simple 2m putt.

Day hopes his first visit to Australia since 2013 in November will help reignite his golf game in the same fashion as three-time major champion Spieth. Spieth used his 2014 and 2016 Australian Open victories as a springboard to claiming the 2015 Masters and US Open, as well as the British Open this year.

“Coming down to Australia has obviously been great for Jordan’s career. Both times he’s won the Aussie Open he’s won (at least) a major the next year,” Day said.

With countryman Adam Scott also winless in 2017, it was the first year since 2012 that at least one of the two Australian big guns failed to record a Tour victory.

But Victorian Marc Leishman stepped up to the plate with a breakout season highlighted by two Tour titles, seven top-10s and 16 top-25 results.

Now assured of starts to all four major championships next year, 33-year-old Leishman says it’s realistic to raise his expectations.