Masters week and the first official press conference. Welcome, Jason Day. Good story.
The bloke has come close to winning at Augusta National before, many times. It’s 10 years since he was the other Australian who could have won the country’s first Green Jacket.
But his name is not Adam Scott.
A few months ago, you could make a cup of tea while scrolling down the world rankings and still not find his name by the time the jug boiled. Now, he’s looking a little bit like his old world No.1 self. After dropping out of the top 150 late last year, he’s now ranked 35th.
His back was cooked a few years ago. It’s still not great, and he has had to rebuild his golf swing during the past six months.
He should be in a spot which makes him a legitimate contender by the time they reach Amen Corner on Sunday. Then he starts talking about what’s going through his head when he swings a club.
Jason Day on the range before the US Masters.Credit:AP
“I would like to be able to go out there and play without … a couple of swing thoughts,” Day says, taking a deep breath before launching into a sermon.
“Right now, I’m thinking about making sure that I have good hip tone on the way back, if the right elbow flares out enough on top of the swing, that I have a little bit of a squat going into transition, the right arm goes down the right side of my body, I rotate, get my hands low and make sure I get my right wrist and get my right hand on top.”
Rightttt.
“And you’ve got to compete, as well.”
Of the 8000 videos he reckons he has stored on his phone, “probably 7990 of them are golf swings”. He texts Tiger Woods regularly to compare notes on technical points of the game. No one could accuse him of not being a student of his craft, but how much is too much?
“They are the things that I’m thinking about constantly on the range, and then I would say that if I can move it to the point where I could maybe have one or two swing thoughts, that would actually help a lot,” he says.
Last year, Day’s fall from grace seemed complete. He didn’t qualify for the Masters. It was the first time in more than a decade he didn’t drive down Magnolia Lane. Instead, he made sure he didn’t miss much of the tournament, watching on TV.
An hour after his media briefing on Tuesday morning (AEST), world No.5 Cameron Smith walked into a room and shrugged his shoulders when asked how hard it felt to not be eligible to defend his Players Championship title due to his move to LIV Golf.
“I spent most of the weekend kind of hanging out with mates and we did a little bit of fishing,” Smith laughed. “It was nice, all the residents seemed to be at the golf course, so we had the water to ourselves.”
This week, Australia’s chances of a leaderboard charge will likely rest on the shoulders of the out-of-sorts Smith, by his own admission, and the rejuvenated Day.
But does Day really believe he’s got another major in him?
“Obviously, I got a little inspiration from Tom Brady, a guy that was an inspiration to a lot of people, but for him to be that old – not saying that he’s old – but for him to be at that young age of 45 and be competitive in the NFL, it’s remarkable,” Day says. “It’s a true testament to his ability.
“If you go and watch Rory [McIlroy] on the range, or even play golf, even Tiger, these guys look like they are just free flowing everything. They can hit any shot. I’m kind of physically forced to have to think about this stuff out on the golf course because if I don’t, then I go back into some bad habits, and that can potentially harm my back.
“So, I’m forced to be able to have to think about this stuff.”
Good story? It’s some story.
