Hoping back issues are over, No. 1 Day gets back on Tour
Jason Day’s back. The world No. 1 returns after one of the longest breaks of his career in this week’s SBS Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui. Thirty-two winners from last year will ring in the new year as the PGA Tour resumes the 2016-17 wraparound season.
But this won’t be the only week anyone uses those three words — Jason Day’s back — as the Tour moves forward. The Aussie, who dominated a portion of last season with his touch and power en route to three wins, including The Players Championship, will be in constant monitoring mode for his troublesome back.
Day has not played since withdrawing from The Tour Championship on Sept. 23 with an ailing back, which came less than two weeks after he withdrew from the final round of the BMW Championship, also because of the back.
While Day, 29, has dealt with an assortment of injuries throughout his career, including one to his left thumb that had him thinking about quitting the game in 2014, his fragile back is his main concern.
He picked up a club twice in three months after The Tour Championship and instead worked hard on strengthening his body, especially his back.
“It’s been a pain in the butt,” Day told reporters in Hawaii. “But I’m doing everything I possibly can. It’s not like I’m not trying to do everything I can to stay healthy. I’ve been doing everything I can, and I feel pretty good.
“I feel fit, and I’m looking forward to a good, solid year.”
He’ll go into it with a shorter swing. Day has one of the fastest swings on the Tour, and few can equal his firepower with most every club in his bag. This was evident when he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play in successive weeks, then The Players Championship seven weeks later.
That was Day’s seventh victory in 10 months, which included his lone major in the 2015 PGA Championship, where he overpowered the field and Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
But he dealt with back issues in the Match Play and despite good weeks — he finished second in the PGA Championship in late July and had three other top-10s after The Players — the back was a lingering issue.
Thus, Day is going shorter. He said his swing had gotten longer the last few years — which meant more turn in his upper body and more strain on his entire body as the swing created more speed.
This could have led to his thumb injury, he said. It definitely put more pressure on his back.
At times last year, Day said, his back would lock up and start to spasm and that would take up to two weeks to clear.
“No amount of cortisone that I could have put in my body would have helped it,” Day said when he injured his back during the FedExCup Playoffs, which led to his withdrawal in the BMW Championship and not enough recovery time for The Tour Championship.
Day, who said he can live with losing distance because of the shorter swing, said recent scans to his back have been positive and his workouts to strengthen his core and body have been just fine.
He is eager to face the best players in the world and retain his No. 1 ranking for as long as he can.
“I feel good,” he said. “I’m not saying that I’m obviously clear and I’m out of the woods, but I’m definitely cautiously optimistic about how things are progressing.”