Jason Day aiming to master the world’s best again

For any Aussie, this week of all weeks, has resonance. It's the 20th anniversary of Greg Norman's meltdown as destiny played a cruel trick on the Great White Shark in his quest for a Masters title. People are talking – a lot – about it.

But not Jason Day.

He was just a kid back then, and – if anything – Adam Scott's win of 2013 has banished any thoughts that there was some kind of hex on an Australian golfer ever getting to wear a green jacket at Augusta National. Scott did them all a favour, and his history is more recent that Norman's. The good vibes outweigh the bad ones.

So it is that Day – the world number one – sat in the interview room here and talked the talk of someone who knows where he is going and how to get there. There’s a new comfort zone about him, aided by a breakthrough Major championship win in the US PGA last year, and abetted by two recent wins on the PGA Tour, in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and thee WGC-Dell Matchplay in Austin. As hot streaks go, he is up there.

Sixth appearance

This is Day’s sixth appearance in the Masters, enough baggage to know how tough it can be and sufficient knowledge to be aware that his game has threatened before. He has bagged two top-five finishes, contended. Now, there is the extra kudos of being the world’s top ranked player coming into the championship and being able to deflect some expectations onto others.

Listen to what he said, like an old hand batting away something he didn’t want to hear.

“To be honest, I don’t think I’m the favourite this week . . . . there’s a lot of people out there that can play well and win as well. Jordan and Rory and Henrik, how he’s playing lately, and even Phil is a favourite here. There’s so many players that can win around here, there’s not just one heavy favourite.”

Then he flips it. Claims he wants to extend the gap between him as number one and the chasers. “Winning takes care of everything and if you win, especially the big ones, you can extend the gap between number one and number two in the world. That’s kind of the focus that I’m really trying to focus on right now is trying to extend that gap.

Day, more than most, has had his medical issues in recent seasons. Vertigo. Bad back. As recently as the Matchplay, which he won, that back complaint had threatened to derail him. What about now?

“It’s pretty much something I have been dealing with ever since I was a 13-year-old. It’s nothing new. It’s the same old bulged sic that I’ve always had but every now and then it just flares up and you can’t do anything about it. I’ve just got to keep on top of what I need to do to keep myself strong and fit and ready to play and, then, hopefully, over time, strengthening it each and every time. If I maintain that, then slowly it will go away.”

His recent form has provided evidence of such wellbeing and he arrived here on Friday to kickstart a build-up aimed at getting his hands on a green jacket. “I do feel good with how I’m playing right now and where I am at mentally and physically.”

In the past, Day has felt he overcomplicated things (especially on the greens).

“I guess it’s just maybe looking too much into a shot, overplaying a shot or making things too complicated where they should be simple, just trying too hard, way too hard . . . . I know there’s certain steps I need to take to read putts or to get information, or to execute a shot. I’ve just got to go through that normal pattern and try and do it that way rather than missing a step or trying mentally too hard.”

Day, for sure, has proven he knows how to get around the place: in his debut year, back in 2011, he finished second behind Charl Schwartzel; and, in 2013, having missed the event the previous year due to injury, he finished third.

Of that runner-up finish in 2011, Day came to Augusta tired of the game and where he was going. He recalled the time he was sitting on a bus with his wife and his coach. “I’m like, ‘I do not like this game right now’. I was having a very, very hard time picking up the golf club to even get myself out there.”

The next week he went to Augusta and finished second. “I loved the game again.” It has been some ride ever since, one that has seem him reach the pinnacle of the world rankings. And, like it or not, come into the Masters as a favourite.