Day sweats on a repeat of history
QUEENSLANDER Jason Day hopes returning to the site of his first US PGA Tour victory after a four-year absence will help reignite his golf game.
After starting the year as world No.1, Day has dropped another ranking spot to No.4 after finishing a distant 17 shots behind winner Si Woo Kim when defending the Players Championship title in Florida at the weekend.
But the 29-year-old is confident of dusting himself off at this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas, Texas, where he bagged a two-shot win in 2010 for his maiden US tour title.
“Whenever you go back to a course where you have won, it brings back great memories,” Day said.
“The Byron Nelson was my first-ever victory on the PGA Tour and it will always be a special tournament to me.”
Also teeing it up at TPC Four Seasons Resort are world No.1 Dustin Johnson, reigning US Masters champion and defending Byron Nelson champion Sergio Garcia and two-time major winner Jordan Spieth.
Day welcomed the highcalibre field upon returning to the event for the first time since 2013.
“If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best,” said Day, who has two other top-10s from four starts at the Byron Nelson.
Day’s compatriot Marc Leishman is also hungry to atone for a lacklustre Players Championship, where the 33year-old missed just his second cut for 2017.
With a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational among three top-10s and seven top-25s this season, Leishman is eager to keep his career-best season rolling.
Other Australians in the field include 2015 Byron Nelson winner Steven Bowditch, Rod Pampling, Greg Chalmers, Stuart Deane, Cameron Percy, Matt Jones, Geoff Ogilvy and Stuart Appleby.
As many as 26 players will this week be added to the field for the US Open and there isn’t likely to be many surprises unless someone not already eligible wins or finishes second in the Byron Nelson.
The top 60 in the world ranking published after this week will be exempt from qualifying.
Si Woo Kim earned a three-year exemption with his victory in the Players Championship, although the 21-year-old from South Korea was in the Tour Championship last year and thus already exempt for the US Open, which will be played at Erin Hills in Wisconsin from June 15-18.