‘Winning is hard – Tiger just made it look easy’
But the Australian is certainly not questioning McIlroy’s ability to perform under the gun and reckons the Holywood star is on track for a massive year.
“You guys have been blessed seeing Tiger Woods win for so many years and being No 1 for I think 12 years now that people in general think it’s easy to win,” Day said at Trump National Doral ahead of this week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship.
“It’s hard. It’s not easy to go out there and just do it. I mean, McIlroy played flawless golf over the first three days and, once again, The Honda Classic, the PGA National, is not an easy golf course.
“There’s a lot of water everywhere. The finish is very tough. The back nine is very, very brutal. You get any sort of wind that’s kind of swirling around and it makes it very tough.”
McIlroy had a three-shot lead walking to the sixth tee but had to hit a career shot at the last just to shoot a four-over 74 and make a four-man play-off, won by Russell Henley.
“I know exactly how they are feeling,” added Day, who won the WGC-Accenture Match Play in Tucson two weeks ago.
“Sometimes you feel like you just want to curl up and run away. Some days you go out there and you feel like you can stay out there forever and play golf and it doesn’t matter what golf course is in front of you.”
A huge admirer of McIlroy’s, Day has no fears for the young Irishman and is tipping him to have a bumper season.
“Sometimes you come out and it just doesn’t feel right and it just doesn’t happen. I just think this was more of a learning thing for him. He has had a win and two seconds in his last six starts. I just know he is going to win this year. He looks like he is in a much better place than last year and everything is kind of balanced and he’s engaged to Caroline [Wozniacki].
“He seems very motivated. You can also tells when a player is really motivated and wants it. I see him as being on the cusp on doing to great things. I’m expecting some pretty great things from him.
“That shot to 18 at the Honda was pretty special.”
Day has won just twice on the PGA Tour and he believes a player of Woods’ stature just makes comparisons inevitable for the young players coming through.
But he is convinced McIlroy will take the positives from the Honda,especially the 245-yard five-wood he hit to 11 feet at the last that gave him a putt for the title.
“I would love to win as many times as he is, but there’s just that human error that you have.
“Like I said, so many years we’ve watched Tiger do it so easy and hit so many clutch shots that people expect everyone on the PGA Tour should be doing that. And that’s why we practice so hard. We want to do it and we want to do it a lot and we want to win.
“I really like hitting clutch shots and knowing that I can hit those shots. It’s like watching Rory the other day on the 18th hole, knowing that he had to hit a good shot in there to give himself a chance of either getting in the play-off or winning the tournament. Shots like that is what you practice for.”
Graeme McDowell was one of the first players to test out a completely revamped Blue Monster yesterday afternoon. And he reckons designer Gil Hanse has made it a tougher course than ever.
“It’s practically a brand new 18 holes with all the greens and the bunkering and all the work that they have put into it,” McDowell said.
“I mean, Gil and Donald [Trump] have done a phenomenal job making this course into a championship course that’s probably one of the most difficult golf courses that we play all year.
“The Blue Monster was always a tough golf course. I just think they made it tougher.”
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