Jason Day Is The New Dominator

No doubt about it – Jason Day is in the dominant position & he intends to stay there!

Jason Day is an exceptional golfer – there’s no question about that. However, with his wire-to-wire victory at THE PLAYERS, he’s become dominant.

Day hits it beyond almost everybody. His strokes gained putting stat has improved from 30^th in 2014 to second in 2016. And he now has the kind of confidence that comes with multiple victories, being No. 1 in the world and taking down the best field in golf. He’s just plain dangerous to other golfers any week that he plays.

Since last August, Jason Day has won the PGA Championship, The Barclays, BMW Championship, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play, and now THE PLAYERS.

If the PGA TOUR staff had not bungled THE PLAYERS course set up on Saturday, he might have broken Greg Norman’s scoring record of 24-under which was set before the course had SubAir. Norman played to soft, rained-on greens that were as receptive as Velcro. This week, Jason Day was 15-under after two rounds, and he would have needed just two 67s to tie the 22-year old mark, which, given his play the first two days, was doable.

More from Pro Golf Now

All that aside, Day’s level of interest in THE PLAYERS is elevated for a couple of reasons.

“They say this is our fifth major,” he noted. “It’s a big event.”

He sees other benefits as well. He wants the satisfaction of sitting in the rocking chair and being able to say that he won THE PLAYERS. He also thinks it’s important, long term, for his career.

“I want to win this tournament, especially with how you can go down in history,” he explained to media. “This may push me over the line, someday, to get in the Hall of Fame, and that’s obviously key for me.”

With his victory at THE PLAYERS, it doesn’t look like Jason Day will be dethroned from his No. 1 spot anytime soon. He has eight wins since the start of the 2013-14 season, the most of any PGA TOUR player in that time frame. He has collected10 victories in five years, seven since last year’s RBC Canadian Open.

And Day just became the third player to win THE PLAYERS while ranked No. 1. The others are Greg Norman in 1994 and Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2013. That is very good company indeed.

Why is he doing so well in 2016? Part of the reason may have been his self-imposed rest at the end of 2015 when he and his wife were expecting their second child. Jason Day did not go to Australia to play the tournaments there, saving wear and tear on his body. Meanwhile Jordan Spieth, his biggest competitor last summer, was racking up frequent flier miles at an alarming rate and came into 2016 tired and after his victory in Hawaii, played like it.

The 2015 end-of-year break left Day mentally and physically ready to compete at the beginning of 2016. While he didn’t start with a bang, by March, he certainly showed everyone what he could do, by winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Dell Match Play back-to-back. However his many event schedule starting in January caused him to suffer from fatigue after The Masters, but it is clear he has recovered.

With the way he has been playing, Jason Day will definitely have his eye on Oakmont, site of the U.S. Open, Troon for the British Open, and Baltusrol for the PGA where he will defend. Then, the Olympics.

“Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would have the chance of becoming an Olympian,” Day said to media earlier in the season. “Going down there and competing and playing to try and win a gold medal, because at the end of your career it would be neat to look back and go, I played and won a medal at the Olympics when golf was kind of coming back.”

Next: AT&T Byron Nelson Power Rankings

One way or another, it will be an exciting summer of golf. Look for Jason Day to stay in the mix.

Home/Golf News