Jason Day Finds Out What It’s Like to Live As No.1

Every players who has been at the top of the rankings paid a price – Jason Day explains what’s involved.

Jason Day is sitting on the top of the OWGR, but there’s a price to pay for staying there. Day’s talking about the cost.

“It’s tough to be at the top of your game all the time, and everyone is expecting you to win, and that sometimes wears on you,” Jason Day said to media at the Zurich Classic about being No.1 in the world.

Like Rory McIlroy, who held the No. 1 spot for quite some time, Day admits he looks every Monday to see where he stands in relation to the players closest to him on the list.  McIlroy was No. 1 for 95 weeks. Greg Norman was the gold standard with 331 weeks. Then Tiger Woods dominated like no one before and, very likely, as no one will in the future. He held the spot for 683 weeks in total.

“I know I’m at nine weeks now,” he said. “I just want to get to 10, and after that I want to get to 11 and after that I want to get to 12, and so on and so on.”

More from Pro Golf Now

• Golf Rumors: LIV set to sign Masters Champion in stunning deal
• Fantasy Golf: Grant Thornton Invitational DFS Player Selections
• Brutal return leaves Will Zalatoris looking towards 2024
• Stars You Know at World Champions Cup Starts Thursday at Concession
• Fantasy Golf: An Early Look at the 2024 Masters Tournament

Greg Norman sent Day a text earlier in the year saying that he hoped Day surpassed his time in the top spot.

“I’m like, ugh, that’s 330 something weeks at No. 1. That’s a very dominant career in my mind, and if I have the opportunity to do that, I know that’s going to take a lot of sacrifice and a lot of dedication to be able to do that,” Day added. “But it’s great to be at the top of your game, at the top level, be No. 1, but more so be motivated than ever before to try and extend that lead.”

In recent weeks, since ascending to the pinnacle position in golf, Day found that all the constant travel was wearing on him and his game.  He had needed time off.

“After the five weeks that I had on the road, from Bay Hill, Match Play, had four days off until Augusta early, led Augusta, played Heritage, and by the Heritage week, I was a little tired,” he said.

More from PGA

• Tiger May Play 2024 Genesis and The Players in New Schedule
• Which Cindefella Will Get His Glass Golf Spikes This Week?
• “Love Weather” Dominates at RSM Classic: Rain and Wind and Golf
• Camilo Villegas’ Second Chance on PGA Tour Blossoming
• Davis Love III, Zach Johnson Reflect on What They Learned as Ryder Cup Captains

Day noticed a few bad swing habits were showing up.  Many swing coaches just refer to them as tendencies.  Every golfer has a tendency to do certain things, to make certain errors, to have a swing that goes awry in a certain way. Professional golfers have to practice to make sure those tendencies stay hidden away in a closet – out of sight of any golf tournament.

“I’ve played a lot of tournaments in a row before, and it’s just not a good formula for me,” he noted. “I usually try and play two on, a week off, two on, or a week on, week off, something like that, where I can try and rest up and prepare for a tournament.”

At The RBC Heritage, fatigue caught up with him.

“I just had a shocking third round. It could have been mental fatigue in there,” he explained. “I had a terrible attitude when I was playing that round. Mix that in with bad weather and a bad attitude, and unfortunately I should be more professional about the way I — I mean, I was fine. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to anyone or my caddie or anything else, just inside I had a bad attitude, and emotionally it got to me that round.”

He fired a 79 on that rainy, windy Saturday. It was a blustery week, but his first two days and Sunday, he shot in the 60s.  It was just that third round that got to him.

“I was thinking about other things rather than going through my normal process,” he said. “For me, my standard pre-shot routine is to think about certain things, and I got away from that, and now I’m trying to get back to getting back to where I was at the start of the year where I was hitting it much better and chipping and putting it much better, as well.”

In his week off, he was at the gym and on the practice tee working out the kinks, trying to improve on perfection.  He knows he has to keep up the work if he wants to stay at No. 1, which he clearly does.  He’s also discovered what other No. 1s have also found out, that striving for No. 1 is slightly different than being there.

Live Feed

FanSided

“Getting to No. 1 is the hardest part. Climbing that mountain is very difficult, having to go through a lot of failures to get to this point is difficult,” he admitted.

His week, typically, is Monday and Tuesday practicing and then working out for an hour to an hour-and-a-half which in total becomes a seven to eight hour day. When his tee time comes, he concentrates on what he calls executing the game plan and trying to win.

His work ethic, he said, won’t change. It can’t or someone will pass him.

“The hard part for being No. 1 is staying balanced and not getting too distracted from your main goal of trying to win a golf tournament,” he added. “What I admire most about Tiger and Phil and the guys that have dominated the game for so long is their ability to manage their lives, personal and professional, and still have the will and want to win every golf tournament they compete in.”

Next: Zurich Classic Fantasy Picks

After Zurich, Jason Day will play the Wells Fargo Championship and then The Players.