While Jason Day has played some solid golf at times in 2025, posting top-10 finishes at The American Express, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and The Masters, it has also been a frustrating campaign for the former world No. 1, as he's been forced to withdraw from several high-profile events.
Back in March, an illness rendered him unable to compete at The Players Championship.
The 13-time PGA Tour winner was then forced out of last month's Truist Championship with back and neck issues, specifically a herniated disc, an injury that undoubtedly played into his missing the cut the following week at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club, where he shot 73-75 to miss out on the weekend by five shots.
And just this past week, Day missed a second straight Signature Event, as a sore left wrist kept him out of the Memorial Tournament, which was particularly painful seeing as how he's a member at Muirfield Village and makes his residence nearby.
The Aussie had planned to play this week's RBC Canadian Open but has instead opted to take another week off, with the hope of making his return at next week's U.S. Open. And from what Day himself told me, it sounds like he'll be ready to roll at Oakmont.
Jason Day should be good to go at the U.S. Open but is still being cautious with his injured wrist
I had the opportunity to speak with Day on Monday morning, and we touched on a number of topics, including his thoughts on Scottie Scheffler's recent dominance (more on that in a separate piece later this week), the emergence of Ben Griffin, and even his role as an ambassador for TruGreen, which is the official lawn care treatment provider for the PGA Tour.
And, honestly, if you haven't seen some of Day's spots with these guys, you're missing out, as they've been absolutely hilarious.
Before we got into any of that, however, I naturally asked him how heartbreaking it was not to be in the field at the Memorial and how things with the wrist were progressing. And while he was obviously disappointed to miss out on the event in his own backyard, he seems to be feeling good about things moving forward.
"[The wrist] is good," Day said. "It was hard; I couldn't swing a club last week, and then I started swinging yesterday, and it felt pretty good. I've got it wrapped pretty tight, but I had a PRP injection into it, and it's feeling pretty good. Now, I'm just trying to get prepared for the U.S. Open.
"I was going to try and play Canada this week, but I was sitting there, and I was like, well, I haven't hit any balls and going up to a tournament and trying to go from zero to 100 in the swing speed, I need to slightly ramp that up because I don't want to do anything.
"Because if you tear your TFCC, you're out for 12 weeks, pretty much the season's done, and/or you might need to have surgery, so it could be extended even longer. So, I've just got to be very cautious how I go about it and all that stuff."
Given how long and thick the rough at Oakmont is expected to be, I mentioned how that's not a venue you want to walk into with a banged-up wrist, and he was 100% in agreement.
"Yeah, exactly," Day responded. "Obviously, that's a long golf course. They just recently redid it, and they're trying to take it back to more like the old style of golf architecture.
"But like you said before, it's going to be a big, long golf course with thick rough, and you're going in there trying to gouge it out the rough if you miss the fairway—obviously hoping you don't miss the fairway too much—and typically when you're doing that, you're putting a lot of strain and pressure on your wrist, especially when you have an injury there. So, I've just got to be very careful leading into that part of it."
The last time the U.S. Open was contested at Oakmont in 2016, the one-time major champ fared well and could have genuinely contended had it not been for his first-round performance. After opening his week with a 6-over round of 76, he went 4-under the rest of the way, shooting 69-66-71 over the final 54 holes to tie for eighth.
The 2025 U.S. Open field will be finalized soon, and it sounds like Jason Day's name will be on it.
We'd like to thank the fine folks at VML and TruGreen for facilitating this exclusive interview with Jason Day. If you use quotes from this piece, be sure to link back to ProGolfNow.