PHILIP REIDhears Australia's Jason Day outline how discipline will be key in order to be in contention on Sunday

IT’S EASY to be golf’s forgotten man, the one who went so close but finished up in the shadows watching on as somebody else took the kudos.

In Augusta, he watched as Charl Schwartzel had a green jacket placed on his shoulders. In Congressional, he watched as Rory McIlroy was handed the US Open trophy.

It’s not easy being the runner-up.

Jason Day broke onto the Major scene like a hurricane last year, barely having time to catch breath as he reserved his best play for the toughest tournaments in the year. He had 10 top 10s on the US Tour last season but his best two finishes came in the Majors, twice second-placed. Close but not close enough.

This year, Day has returned to Augusta – having worked hard on his short game – with the knowledge he needs to drive the ball better if he is to become the first Australian to win the Masters.

“You have to be disciplined . . . it’s a very thin line between winning a tournament and making the cut. A few bounces go your way, the momentum starts rolling your way, you hole a few putts, you put yourself in contention. And when you’re in contention, you only have to stick around, stick around, stick around for Sunday and hole a few birdie putts coming down the stretch and you might win.

“Whereas, if you’re going the other way and you have a few bad bounces and you’re missing a few putts and you’re just not on that week, that’s just how it is.”

Day, who has a gentle start to the season that has seen him play just four times on the US Tour, his tied-20th positions in the WGC-Cadillac championship and the Transitions tournament being his best performances, would prefer to focus on his own game rather than looking at what anyone else is up to.

“It’s like anything. If you’re out there driving a car, you don’t want to focus on the person driving next to you and see what they’re doing. You have to focus on what you need to do and you have to drive your own car.”

And, still, he couldn’t resist have a pre-Masters reference to others.

Of Tiger Woods: “If he has momentum rolling on Sunday like he used to, he’s a guy that can roll off four or five birdies on the back nine and do it pretty easily. If he has the putter rolling, it makes it very simple for him.”

Of Rory McIlroy: “It’s only a matter of time (before he wins the Masters) . . . he hits it very, very solid and he can make the crowd scream.”

But with a rider: “Any player like Rory or Phil or Tiger that goes ahead, that wins this week, it would be great for the game of golf I believe . . . but I’m going to do my best to try to stop them.”