Day on the ball to ease our pain

AN Australian win at Augusta could soothe a nation’s damaged sporting pride in the wake of the ball-tampering affair — and Jason Day is ready to come to the rescue.

The suspensions of Aussie cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft didn’t escape Day’s attention and made it to question time ahead of his Masters campaign which he believes has him in a perfect position to challenge arguably the most in-form field of stars ever assembled.

One of four Aussies at Au- gusta, with Marc Leishman, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, Day shrugged off suggestions the weight of a nation was on their shoulders for a country which so badly covets Masters success, and is in need of a sporting boost.

The Queenslander echoed the thoughts of millions when he said he was “disappointed” with what went down in South Africa and knows he could lift plenty of spirits if he was to get Australia a second green jacket five years after Scott won the first.

“Yeah, it was a little bit disappointing to see what hap- pened with the Australian cricket team. I don’t know the reasoning behind it. Obviously I don’t understand what they’re trying to accomplish with that ball,” Day, pictured below, said.

“It’s certainly disappointing to see that, and I’m sure a lot of Australians feel the same way. And hopefully they can do some damage control and get back what they lost.

“I said this before, you can’t get that back.

“Hopefully an Australian winning this week will definitely take some pressure off that and ease the pain a little bit with what had just happened.”

Despite having won already this year, at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, and coming second at Pebble Beach, Day, who has been in Augusta since last Thursday honing his game, has been lost amid the Tiger Woods frenzy and hits the tournament as something of an underdog.

Not that it matters to the 30year-old who has known since he was a five-year-old watching the Masters on TV what a win would mean.

“I don’t care what I come into an event like this, I just want to win. If it is underdog, great. If it’s a favourite, great.”