Day looks to defend and hopes for a trip back home
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
IRVING, Texas -- Jason Day enjoyed a decorated career as an amateur golfer in his native Australia. Won the stroke-play championship. Won big junior tournaments. Won plenty of events in Queensland, where he grew up.
However, since turning pro in 2006, he has never played a professional event in his home country.
That won't change this week, of course.. But it's likely to change this year.
Thanks to his win a year ago at the HP Byron Nelson Championship, as well as his tie for second at the Masters last month, Day is on pace to make the International team on merit for this year's Presidents Cup, to be held at Royal Melbourne in November.
The event is still 171 days away. But it's not too early for Day, who was born in Beaudesert, Queensland, and still has a house in Australia, to think about a potential Presidents Cup appearance.
He'll turn 24 on Nov. 12, which is the Saturday before Presidents Cup week. He'd like nothing better than to be on Greg Norman's squad.
"I've got it in my head now," Day said Wednesday on the eve of his first PGA TOUR title defense.
When the last Presidents Cup was held in 2009 at Harding Park, Day ranked 46th in points for the International team. A year ago coming into TPC Four Seasons Resort, he had fallen to 60th on the list.
But after claiming the HP Byron Nelson -- his breakthrough win on TOUR -- he moved up to 23rd. By the end of the 2010 season, he has risen to 12th, partly on the strength of his top-10 finish at the PGA Championship and partly on his play during the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup when he posted top-10s in each of the first two events.
At the Masters, he closed with a 4-under 68 to move into a tie for second with fellow Aussie Adam Scott, two strokes behind winner Charl Schwartzel of South African. That high finish allowed Day to move to No. 5 in the International standings -- and also allowed Schwartzel and Scott to move inside the top five, too. (Schwartzel, in fact, is No. 1.)
If all three players hold their positions (International points are based on Official World Golf Ranking points), they would be teammates in November. The top 10 players get automatic invites, with Norman making two captain's picks.
"I'm always thinking about it, if I can move up the world ranking, I will have a shot at playing in the Presidents Cup right now," Day said. "All I can say is if I can play good now, it will take care of itself later. It would be a great honor to play for the International side down in Australia."
Day's immediate focus, of course, is finding a way to duplicate his feat last year in Irving when he took a two-shot lead going into the final round, then survived hitting his approach shot into the water at the 18th hole. The stumble down the stretch didn't cost him the tournament -- playing partner Blake Adams could've made things interesting but also found the water -- but it was a valuable lesson for Day.
It was also a huge confidence boost.
"This was a platform to the next level for me," Day said. "I've contended in a couple of majors now and I've grown on the course and off the course, which has been nice. It's been a really exciting 12 months."
Day comes into this week's event in a much better frame of mind. And much healthier. A year ago, he had significant sinus problems that required an IV for five straight days leading up to the Nelson.
The fact that he won playing at less than full capacity may have gotten lost under all the hysteria surrounding local teenager Jordan Spieth's amazing week (click here), but it made the feat no less impressive. His left maxillary sinus was 100 percent blocked and Day was sick for nearly eight months.
On Oct. 14, he underwent sinus surgery, took a month to recover, and since the 2011 season, has been a factor in several events this year. He has five top 10s in 11 starts this year and ranks 25th in FedExCup points.
Still, he hasn't been as consistent as he'd like, which is why he's now working with a mental coach, a fellow Aussie named Neil Smith who also works with other TOUR pros, including Hunter Mahan.
"I felt I needed more structure in my game," Day said. "We're slowing improving that."
What's definitely improved is Day's confidence. It was shaky when he first started on TOUR, and he acknowledges that it took him time to "feel comfortable in my own shoes and in my surroundings." But last year's win at the TPC Four Seasons gave him the proof he needed to see, that he could compete against the big boys.
Now he comes into this week not only as the defending champ, but as one who expects to be in contention when the leaders reach the back nine on Sunday.
"My confidence coming into this event is great. It's obviously high," Day said. "I don't want to sound too cocky, but I feel good about my game, where I am right now, mentally.
"Last year there was a little bit of a struggle trying to finish this tournament off, but I feel great right now."
He'll feel even better if he's playing golf in Australia this November.
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