I’LL HAVE ANOTHER BIG DAY SAYS JASON
Former world No.1 Jason is ready to win big again after his mum is given clean bill of health from cancer hell
JASON DAY was relieved when his mum was given a clean bill of health after a cancer scare at the start of the year. But unlike his mother Dening the Aussie’s game hasn’t recovered since that nightmare spell understandably caused him to take his eye off the ball. The former world No.1 is realistic enough to know it will take time to regain the form that propelled him to the top of his sport during a golden spell in 2015 and 16. His ascent – defined by a breakthrough first Major win at the PGA two years ago – was a long time in the making. So why should he expect to suddenly pick up where he left off before the life-altering news his mum needed emergency surgery to remove a tumour from her lung? Now four months on Day doesn’t speak like a man with the high expectations he placed upon himself last year when he felt a constant pressure to justify his No.1 status. But within that may just lie his secret for success this week at Royal Birkdale as the 29-year-old goes into the Major he came close to winning at St Andrews in 2015 unburdened by self-inflicted pressure. Day said: “When you feel like you’re going to lose someone very close to you there’s nothing you want to do more than just be with them. You don’t want to think about playing golf or even think about working. So there was a stretch there where I’d go home and just sit around with her.
“Obviously that’s time I would normally have been spending working and practising and it caught up with me. I haven’t been playing as great at golf as I should have but it’s all within reason.
“I needed to take that time off because I thought I was losing my mum. I wanted to spend all the time with her I could. Up to that time I’d only see her once a year and that was nowhere enough time to spend with your mum.
“So when I look back on this year I’m happy and disappointed at the same time. I’m very happy about the results of my mum’s health but I’m disappointed in my game. You need good balance in this game to play. In any sport you need to be able to do the right things.
“You need to think properly, be disciplined enough, just to be able to play against the best players in the world. Because it’s really difficult to play against these guys.
“And when things are out of order and you’re trying to battle other things before you even get to a golf course it makes it very difficult to win.
“So while I’m a disappointed in how things have progressed to here I must understand sometimes I’ve got to give myself a little bit of leeway.
“Remember that golf is a marathon and hopefully at the end of my career I’m in some way at the top, somewhere little I’ve never even thought I would be. I just have to be patient and let things happen because I honestly believe big things are coming for me.”
Aside from the worry of his mum’s health scare Day admits he was already running on empty after that breathless spell at the top which began at this tournament two years ago when he finished just one shot shy of a play-off at St Andrews.
He said: “In the latter part of 2015 and 2016 I didn’t want anything more than winning. I didn’t want to finish in second place. I wanted it more than anything in the world – and I feel like I got a little bit burned out at the end of 2016.
“Throw a couple of injuries into that as well. My back was really letting me down a lot during the latter part of 2016 and I was very disappointed in that. You take the burnout factor and the injuries and just being fed up with it.
“Recently I’ve been working very hard and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Everything seems like it’s coming back into balance for me. “I’m able to focus on just really getting after it and working hard and trying to really pinpoint what has been going wrong in my game.
“If I can really hit those, hopefully I will get back to the winning form and get back to No.1. That would be the ultimate goal.”
I needed to take that time off because I thought I was losing my mum JASON DAY