BY Almost immediately, Day demonstrat- “Jason’s naturally a hard worker, so that his fi rst such failure as a pro, at a 2007 JAIME DIAZ ed the obsessive work ethic of a young pissed him off,” Martin says, “but it need- Nationwide Tour event he led after three ‘YOU GO, “I CAN’T man hungering for approval and vali- ed to be said, and he took it the right way — rounds: “I shot 80. It was a pretty good 80. FOCUS ON RUNNING dation. Inspired by Woods’ instruction as a challenge.” I hooked my ball off the fi rst tee, hit a little book, How I Play Golf, Day began rising Day began using the principles of Focus- girl. I was kind of shaken up after that, but AWAY. I HAVE TO FACE at 5am to practise and play before classes. Band, which measures brain activity and yeah, I learned a good lesson obviously on Under Swatton, Day developed a game cognitive function. A routine that begins how to handle pressure that day — also not THIS STRAIGHT ON.” ’ reminiscent of Norman’s in the stability, when Day arrives at his ball and features to break up with your girlfriend the night — JASON DAY compactness and speed of his swing, the standing on the target line with fl utter- before. That definitely doesn’t help.” height of his ball fl ight, and his skill with ing eyes shows Day how to use the “right Says Swatton: “Until last year, Jason nev- the short game and putter. Day dominat- brain” hemisphere that can access “the er truly knew why he was playing. Maybe ing comfortable with being uncomfort- ed his age groups in Australia, and in 2004 zone” and what that feels like — and how initially it was for his dad, and maybe for AFATER SOMELFRAGILLE MOMENTS,INJASON DAY able,” avoiding “self-sabotage,” and the he travelled to San Diego and was a win- to replicate it. When Day encountered ver- me, and his wife and kids. He had extrin- TURNS INSPIRATION INTO OBSESSION need to “walk towards the fear” to de- ner in the Callaway Junior World Champi- tigo in the second round of the 2015 US sic goals based on money, to the point that scribe his feelings and thoughts during onships. By 18, he had turned pro, and in Open at Chambers Bay, falling on his fi nal he bought things to unconsciously create here’s an easy “hi, mate” openness and humility to Jason Day. The 28-year-old competition. 2007 he joined the Nationwide Tour. In his hole, he shot rounds of 68-74 on the week- pressure to perform. Every time we talked Australian calls himself “a boring person,” equating golf’s other 20-somethings At Bay Hill, where he hung in and came fi rst year, he fi nished fi fth on the money list end despite the lingering effects to fi nish about how good Tiger was, I’d say to Jase, from behind to win on the strength of his and qualified for the PGA Tour. He famous- T-9. Day took it as a positive, saying the ad- ‘Why does he do it? Why does he love it?’ to “the popular kids in school... I’m just the nerd in the back.” Day’s attempt short game — he did the same thing a week ly said, “I can take Tiger down.” (Says Day versity “helped me to see how far I could And the reason I did is that I wanted him at a recent press conference to explain his combination of power and touch — later at the Match Play, particularly in beat- today: “When you’re that young and you’re really push myself.” to fi nd his intrinsic motivator. Because no ing McIlroy in a tense semi-fi nal — Day ad- full of confidence, you don’t say the great- In the next Major, the Open Champi- one can fi nd it for him. “Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy had a baby, and I was it” — was slightly, though mitted the stress of making up for poor est things.”) onship at St. Andrews, Day had a 20-foot “I believe he has fi nally realised in a charmingly, off. It’s why he lets his wife, Ellie, do his tweeting. But Day’s warmth ball-striking presented a test he used to be Day appeared to have been rescued. But birdie putt on the 72nd hole to get into a deeply held way, I really, truly want to unable to pass. “It’s so uncomfortable, you his past made the road ahead complicat- play off but left it short. On the plane to be the best player in the world,” Swat- is the reason his ascension to World No. 1 last September, shortly after winning his feel like you want to run away,” he said. ed and confusing. “Anytime he was giv- Toronto for the RBC Canadian Open, Day ton says. “I see it in his new ability to win fi rst Major championship, at Whistling Straits, has been a popular one “Times like that are where you go, ‘I can’t en good feedback, it was so unfamiliar to realised that he had played with great con- multiple times. It means he loves winning. in the caddie yards, equipment trailers and tournament offices of professional golf, and especially among focus on running away. I have to face this him, he didn’t like it,” Swatton says. “He sistency — his only three bogeys coming And that means Jason loves the practising straight on. I’ve got to fi ght for this win.’ ” still struggles with complimentary stuff.” during the windblown second round — and every aspect of preparation, because the tight group of players and families who, like the Days, regularly travel and try to normalise Tour life in Breaking through has been liberating The kid who had grown up being criti- and possessed a new serenity. “It felt like he knows it will help him win. Now it feels a luxury RV. “Jason has a sweet nature that’s pretty laid-back, even when he’s got to be intense,” says fellow and energizing. Seeing what’s possible, he cised wasn’t sure he was good enough. On it changed me and the way I look at my- has stepped up efforts in every area. Un- the PGA Tour, amid the game’s best play- self,” he says. When he got off the plane Aussie and friend Geoff Ogilvy. “Most players, especially the really good ones, aren’t like that.” der trainer Cornell Driessen, the 6-foot, ers and the toughest setups, Day began and into the limo, Day told Martin, “I’m 190-pounder has focused on strengthen- to question himself and proved mentally going to win this week.” ‘UNTIL LAST YEAR, Day is unlike his peers in another, seem- in his class (his mother is Filipino), was ing his core for greater speed and to guard fragile. The day before the tournament, Day sat JASON TRULY NEVER ingly opposite way. From age 10 to 13 in a taunted with racial slurs, he dreaded his against more injury to what has been a down with fi lmmaker Kevin Foley (broth- Trough side of Rockhampton, a Gold Coast father fi nding out. “He’d tell me, ‘If you troublesome lower back. Caddie, coach LONE VICTORY er of coach Sean Foley) to talk about his KNEW WHY HE WAS town north of Brisbane, Day got into a lot don’t fi ght that kid tomorrow, I’m going and father fi gure Colin Swatton guides Day From 2008 through 2013, Day won once life. “He was still raw from St. Andrews, PLAYING.’ of fi stfights. Though many took place in to beat you up when you get home’,” Day through the technical and mental challeng- in 129 PGA Tour starts. His lone victory and his eyes looked right through me and — COLIN SWATTON schoolyards, they were still the gasping, says. “So I’d get in a fi ght.” es, as he has done since Jason was 12. Day came in the Byron Nelson, where, with a burned into the camera,” Foley says of the desperate kind that ended when one par- Alvyn died of stomach cancer when Ja- has also increased his texting correspond- one-shot lead, he hooked a middle iron fi lm, “Never Say Die,” which was nominat- ty quit or got hurt, although the stress of a son was 12. Not surprisingly, the leftover ence with childhood hero and friend Ti- into the water on the 72nd hole and made ed for an Emmy. “There was this intensity, like the journey is just beginning again.” quick rematch could loom. turmoil and anger within his son, now with- ger Woods, saying “If you’re going to pick a bogey but survived when Blake Adams like a light had gone on, and he couldn’t Says Ogilvy: “It’s noticeable in his fo- It’s not the background of most profes- out a strong authority fi gure, led to an aim- brain, it would be his.” did the same thing. wait to play again.” cus that Jason is really set on getting as sional golfers. As Lee Trevino, a brawler in less period of drinking and more fi ghting. And if you’re going to pick a power play- At the 2013 Masters, Day arrived at the On Sunday, Day birdied the 16th and good as he can. It lets him activate one his public golf years in Dallas and El Paso, Day says he doesn’t remember much about er, it would be Day. Employing driver club- 16th tee on Sunday with a one-stroke lead 17th holes, and on the 72nd, faced a 20- of his best gifts, which is being very good told Golf Digest’s Guy Yocom, “Think those days. “Maybe I’ve blocked it out,” he head speed in excess of 120 miles per hour, but admitted later, “My body just froze.” foot left-to-right downhiller much like his at getting better. He’s kind of Hogan-like twice before throwing the fi rst punch, be- says. “I look back on the infl uence my dad at Whistling Straits he became the fi rst play- Two consecutive bogeys led to a third- last birdie putt at St. Andrews, for the win. in that respect. He likes to get all the in- cause you’re making a big commitment.” had on my life and career, and I just try to er to shoot 20 under par in a Major. But place fi nish behind Scott. As the winless Before hitting it, he told Swatton, “I ain’t formation, take what’s right for him, and It’s true that the fi rst time Byron Nel- take the best parts of what he had.” Day’s biggest improvement over the past years went by, Day fought complacency, leaving this short.” Before the putt went then ingrains it with really hard work. It’s son saw Ben Hogan, the fellow 13-year- Although on “Feherty” he said, “Every 18 months has been with his now-familiar burnout and frequent injury. Before his in, Day let out a throaty yell of celebration: why everything about his technique is so old was boxing against another Fort now and then I think about him and ab- high-tech mallet putter. According to stat- fi rst Masters in 2011, in which he tied for “It was a good way to turn around really sound and efficient and textbook, all the Worth caddie named Joe Boy. solutely hate him.” But Day recalls, and istician Peter Sanders, before Day’s victory second, Day was giving serious thought to quick and know that I can do it and show way through the bag.” Chi Chi Rodriguez fought for so- sometimes draws on, the sensations of at the RBC Canadian Open last July, Day’s quitting the Tour. people that I can do it and stomp my foot Norman knew how to stay on top, and he das in the streets of San Juan, Ian being in those early fi ghts. “Anything can make rate on putts in the crucial range be- “He wasn’t having fun, and he was on the ground and say, ‘No, that’s enough. hopes, that like he did, Day will concentrate Woosnam and Fred Funk boxed happen, so you have to control your atti- tween four and 10 feet was below the Tour searching,” Swatton says. “Countless times I can get it done.’ ” on more variety in his iron play. “It comes as kids, and Esteban Tole- tude and stay strong,” he says. “Another average of 60 percent. But since then and on the range and on the golf course, we’d Three weeks later, in the PGA, Day took down to the work equation, which Jason do was once a talented pro- person is trying to hurt you, and you’re through the Players Championship, that have these conversations, and he’d ask, a two-stroke lead into the fi nal round, the understands,” Norman says. “I would urge fessional fi ghter. But these trying to hurt them, so if you make a mis- rate has risen to over 70 per cent, gaining ‘Why do you think I don’t win more?’ I third consecutive Major he led through 54 him to err on the side of caution with the days, from The First Tee’s take, you’re in trouble. My dad was the Day about 2½ strokes per tournament. would always say, ‘Jase, you will win more holes. On the par-five 11th hole, a specta- load he puts on his lower back. There isn’t a Nine Core Values and be- way he was, but he also gave me a motto: His goals? As many wins as possible, often when you want to win more.’ I’m tor yelled “Choke!” causing Day to read- power player on this planet who hasn’t had yond, fi ghting has pretty never say die. Just to keep pushing and multiple Majors, including the career sure he thought, Yeah, what the hell does dress the ball. He then “melted” a drive back problems over the years.” much been drummed out pushing, fi ghting until the end. Grand Slam, and surpassing Greg Nor- that mean?” In essence, Day was still in a of almost 400 yards, drawing a thumbs- Expect Day to keep consulting Woods of golf. man’s 331 weeks at No. 1 (Woods’ record of fi ght — but this time with himself. Again, he up from Spieth, outdriven by more than in what could be perceived by both as a Day fought mostly as a NEVER GIVE UP 683 is apparently unassailable). In short, didn’t quit. 75 yards. Day says he was most proud af- passing of the torch. Even if Woods’ texted result of the violence in He put it in my head that you’re always Day is all in. “I’ve never been so commit- “I had to go through something like that ter his 67 for a three-stroke victory when words seem unremarkable — “just be your- his home. Earlier this going to fi ght, and you’re always going to ted to myself,” he said before winning the to experience what it is to fail, and fail Spieth congratulated him and said, “There self and stay in your world” is an example, year, he revealed on beat them. At the same time, my moth- Players for his 10th PGA Tour victory. “I’m hard,” he says. “Even though I hated it, I was nothing I could do.” A month later, af- according to Day — the fact that they are David Feherty’s tele- er, who is the hardest worker I know, told motivated to extend the gap between me needed it in my career.” ter winning the BMW Championship by six coming from the player Day reveres most vision show that his me that the best thing about me was that I and No. 2. I’m going to work as hard as I “We were both so young, fi guring every- strokes, Day was No. 1. What happened? makes them gold. father, Alvyn, was an never give up. If I have an extra gear, that’s can and see where it goes.” thing out,” Ellie told pgatour.com last year. “For some reason, when he sends the alcoholic who phys- where it comes from.” Day’s prospects dramatically im- “People always thought he was so mature, BREAKTHROUGH same stuff to me,I can fi nally concentrate,” ically abused Jason Although he hasn’t been in a fi ght since proved when his mother mortgaged their but he did really immature things back The main breakthrough was developing Day said after winning at Bay Hill. “It just and his mother, Den- he was 13 — “I would suck at it now” — Day home and used her husband’s life-insur- then. He played video games all the time. the calmness to close. Day won only once means so much more, you know?” Another ing. Not long after knows there is a hardness from those days ance policy and a loan from her broth- He was still throwing golf clubs, and I’d the fi rst seven times he led PGA Tour Yoda moment with Woods, before the Play- Alvyn’s 6-year-old son deep within. He accessed it in winning the er to get Jason away from his behaviour see him cussing on the golf course. He had events after three rounds, but after win- ers, might have been simple, but it struck showed immediate WGC-Match Play in 2014 and 2016, and in in Rockhampton and into the highly re- phases where he would almost give up.” ning the Players, he’d done it fi ve consec- Day as more profound. “I asked Tiger, ‘Did talent and enthusiasm his insistence during those mano-a-mano garded Kooralbyn Boarding School — with Today, Ellie says, “He’s a machine.” At utive times. you ever struggle with being the best?’ And for hitting shots with a battles on making opponents putt short a fi rst-class golf programme whose alum- the end of 2012, a year in which Day’s ad- Unlike most players, Day can be can- he goes ‘No.’ Because he tried to enjoy the three-wood recovered from ones that might normally be conceded. ni included Adam Scott — several hundred justment to the birth of his son, Dash, co- did about the effects of pressure. Asked process. And he tried to get better. Didn’t a garbage dump, the father began taking The increased self-awareness that has miles away. There, Day and Swatton con- incided with his worst career fi nish on the last year at the Tour Championship wheth- matter how good he already was. Eve- Jason to local junior tournaments and ap- been part of Day’s growth as a player is re- nected, with the troubled adolescent hav- FedEx Cup points list (daughter Lucy ar- er he would think about the FedEx Cup’s ry time he teed it up, he just tried to learn lter Ioos Jr.

Wa plying an extraordinary pressure to per- fl ected in a lexicon that clearly sees tour- ing “a moment of clarity” to suppress the rived in November of last year), Swatton, $10-million bonus, he said, “Yeah, of from it, and he got better. And that’s it.”

by form. At 11, Day says, “If I played bad golf, nament golf as a psychological battle. He rebellion he was feeling for authority and Ellie and longtime manager Bud Martin all course it would pop into my brain. It did in Maybe it is. For Jason Day, it’s the good he’d beat me up.” When Jason was being favours terms such as “fight or fl ight,” “in- deferring to the teacher. told Day he wasn’t working hard enough. 2011, and I choked.” Day recently recalled fi ght. photo bullied in school, or, as the only Asian kid stant” versus “delayed” gratification, “be- 8 | SWING BY SPHGOLF | 25-26 JUNE 2016 | THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND THE BUSINESS TIMES WEEKEND | 25-26 JUNE 2016 | SWING BY SPHGOLF | 9