USA TODAY International Edition
Day hopes history will repeat
Canadian Open champ comes in looking for a spark
The serenity Jason Day felt inside during last year’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club proved as pivotal and lasting as the sudden manner in which he ended his stay north of the border.
With birdies on his last three holes, the final red number coming from 20 feet that he punctuated with emphatic fist pumps, Day toppled Bubba Watson by one shot to claim his second victory of the season and in the process washed away the disappointment he felt just six days before in the rain at the Old Course in St Andrews, Scotland.
In the weather- delayed British Open at the Home of Golf, Day left a final- hole birdie attempt just short in his bid to join a playoff, with the victor receiving the Claret Jug. As his head dropped into his hands, the setback causing a few tears to form, Day’s bid to win his first major stood 2 inches short.
That night, however, when he boarded the plane to head to another national championship, the Aussie wasn’t defeated.
“To win six days after the Open was definitely important,” Day said. “But the biggest thing for me was that I had the right attitude about it going into the tournament. It’s so easy to get caught up with losing a major and not being able to close it out. And to have the lead in the U. S. Open, and then the 54- hole lead in the ( British) Open, and to not finish it off, could have harmed me.
“I could have really had the wrong attitude going into Canada. But I knew I was trending in the right direction. I looked forward to playing in Canada instead of thinking about what happened in the past. My whole emotional attitude was in the right state. I kept the calmness about how I felt all week in the Open and took it to Canada and turned a negative into a positive.”
The final putt in Canada was similar in length and shape to the one he faced on the 72nd hole in the British Open. Day, 28, thought back to the putt he left short as he surveyed his chance in Canada. But he didn’t become spooked.
“They were so alike it was strange. But I was calm. And I knew I wasn’t going to leave it short because the greens were so quick. That one I got to the hole,” Day said with a smile.
The feeling he carried as his 15th club and the confidence ignited by the winning birdie kept Day trending in the right direction — all the way to his current standing as the world No. 1. The following month he won his first major title at the PGA Championship. After that he won two FedExCup events, and this year he’s won three titles, including The Players Championship.
As he defends this week starting Thursday at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ontario, he’s still carrying the same attitude and belief in his game as he did when he arrived in Canada last year. As he did last year, he arrives with a bit of disappointment in his carry- on bag. While he notched top- 10s in the year’s first two majors, he wasn’t in contention deep into the final round. Last weekend at wind- swept Royal Troon in the 145th British Open, a tie for 22nd left Day in search of a short game.
“I didn’t hole the putts that I needed to out there, and obviously when I put myself in opportunity situations with regards to driving greens and getting around the greens, I didn’t get up and down for birdies,” he said. “The same thing, when I missed greens, I didn’t really save myself a lot.”
It felt, he said about the greens that ran on the slow side, “like I’m hitting it with a sledgehammer and it’s going nowhere,” which led Day to go nowhere.
He’s glad he’s back in warmer climes and the warm embrace of fans who make him feel like he’s at home. He doesn’t have to wear three or four layers like he did last week in Scotland. And he has last year’s memories to call on.
Last year the Canadian Open was a springboard. He’s hoping it will be again.
“I’ll always look back and know how important last year’s Canadian Open was for me, not just that week but forever,” Day said. “Hopefully I can give myself two weeks’ worth of Canadian memories.”