Day’s amazing year began in Canada
Winning last year’s Canadian Open set stage for Australian’s success
When Jason Day walked off the 18th green at Glen Abbey last July, there’s no way he could know the impact it would have on his career trajectory.
But looking back now, the world’s top-ranked golfer is quick to acknowledge that winning the 2015 RBC Canadian Open triggered what amounts to the best 12-month stretch of his professional life.
How’s this grab you for a year’s worth of work?
Six PGA Tour wins, including the Canadian Open. A win in the WGCDell Match Play. And, last but certainly not least, his first major title, at the PGA Championship.
Day’s spectacular stretch harkens back to the glory days of Tiger Woods, when he was running over the competition around the world. No. 1 in the world? Darn tootin’.
“Knowing that this event would springboard me to six wins, a major championship, getting to No. 1 in the world, I’d be very surprised by that,” Day said Wednesday, a day before opening defence of his RBC Canadian Open title.
“It’s amazing how important this event was to me to really get my career going and get it off in the right direction. You know, it’s been a pretty crazy eight months or so and, yeah, it’s exciting.” Exciting, sure. But not nearly as dramatic as his final three holes in the last round a year ago, when he effectively snatched the tournament away from Brantford, Ont.’s David Hearn, who so badly wanted to re-write the tournament’s decidedly nonCanadian record book, and crowd favourite Bubba Watson.
A 21-foot birdie putt on the 18th sealed it for Day, who promptly … uh, hmmm, err, nevermind. He can’t remember what he did then.
“When you have putts like that, as a kid, you try to work on what pose you’re going to do and what you’re going to do, fist-pumps and stuff,” Day said.
“It was just raw emotion that came out of me and I can’t remember what I did until I watched the film. I could say those three holes gave me the confidence needed going into the future tournaments, especially the PGA.”
A couple weeks after conquering Glen Abbey, Day won his first major at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisc. After that, less than a month apart, Day won two FedEx Cup playoff events.
This year, he’s won three more times, the most recent being The Players Championship in May.
And now he’s on top of the world, just as some, including his caddy, Colin Swatton, predicted he would.
“I always thought I could play golf like this,” the 28-year-old Australian admitted. “I’ve always talked to Colin about it ... and he thinks that’s exactly what I should be doing. But I know how much work I had to put into it. I know what I had to do to get to this position and it’s a bit of a grind. It really is.”
That work ethic, the drive to succeed, won’t allow Day to lay back and enjoy the fruits of his labour.
Some would take their foot off the gas, back off a bit now, but that doesn’t sound like it’s part of Day’s strategy. Exactly the opposite, in fact. “I can’t get too complacent with where I’m at,” Day said.
“I know that I’m currently ranked the best player in the world. But, you know, I need to work hard. I need to work harder than I ever have before to keep that spot. I need to work harder than I ever have before to win tournaments, because it’s only going to get tougher.”
Day may be one of the most popular guys on tour but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be the best in the game. Don’t let the humble, nice guy act, which appears quite real, fool you, though.
Like all the greats in every sport, Day wants to win. And win again. And again, until there is nothing left to win. “I’d like to win everything from here on in,” he said. “That’s the goal when you’re coming into events. You’ve got to somehow want it more than the next guy. I feel very motivated right now with how DJ (world No. 2 Dustin Johnson) is playing. He’s playing tremendous golf and he’s on (my) heels. He could play well here in the next few weeks and take over my spot and I don’t want that to happen.”
Day’s reign atop the PGA Tour could continue this weekend.
If the golf experts are to be believed, the RBC Canadian Open will likely be a two-horse race between Day and Johnson, who broke through to win his first major title at the U.S. Open a month ago.
Johnson might even be the favourite, despite Day’s status in the rankings.
But should Day win again? Well, who knows exactly what might happen.
After all, nobody would have predicted the run of success last year’s Open sparked.