Injury fears for Day

US PGA Tour commentator Brandel Chamblee has expressed concern for the chronically injured Jason Day, whose hopes of contesting this week’s elite Players Championship appear slim.

Former world No.1 Day walked off Orlando’s Bay Hill course on Saturday, midway through the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Still feeling stiff in the back, Day was unable to practise but walked Florida’s TPC Sawgrass course on Tuesday ahead of the Players, which starts tonight.

On Wednesday, Day did not practise at TPC Sawgrass.

Former US PGA Tour winner-turned Golf Channel analyst Chamblee questioned whether Day’s ongoing back injuries could be resolved, or whether he would have to manage a troubled spine for the rest of his career.

“I don’t know if the calamity is irreversible, but it might be,” Chamblee said yesterday at TPC Sawgrass. “When I hear Jason Day talking about all the sacrifices he needed to make in the gym and practising, I never heard about him paying proper attention to recovery.”

Day’s withdrawal from the Palmer event was the 10th of his US PGA Tour career and is related to a chronic back injury he battled throughout 2019. He withdrew from the same Palmer event last year before receiving four cortisone injections, which helped him earn a tie for eighth at the 2019 Players Championship a week after.

A month later, he received on-course medical attention in the first round at the 2019 Masters but eventually tied for fifth, two shots behind winner Tiger Woods.

In December, the injury forced Day to skip a trip home to Australia for the Australian Open in Sydney and the Presidents Cup in Melbourne.

Chamblee said Day’s explosive swing was not conducive to longevity.

Day has won 12 times on the US PGA Tour, including a lone major at the 2015 US PGA Championship.