Many elite days ahead for Jason Day

Had Jason Day realised his major ambitions back in 2011, the effects may not have been favourable.

The Australian was 23 when he finished second at both the Masters and US Open and though he had already made his mark on the PGA Tour with a victory at the Byron Nelson Championship he would, by his own admission, have been ill-prepared to make the leap to an elite club of major champions.

Another four years on the road can change all that, though, particularly given Day’s consistent ability and mental strength to overcome the challenges life and golf have thrown at him. His health concerns included a bout of swine flu, bronchitis, allergy issues and an ankle injury while his most recent problems have been the most worrying of all as bouts of vertigo have dramatically intervened, most prominently two months ago when dizzy spells at the vertiginous ninth hole at Chambers Bay during the second round of the US Open were so disorienting that the Queenslander collapsed on the fairway.

Yet the 27-year-old, who last month added the Canadian Open to his Farmers Insurance Open success in 2015, has come through it all with a remarkable lack of impact on his golf game. He reached the point yesterday at Whistling Straits where his two-shot cushion over Jordan Spieth at the top of the PGA Championship leaderboard represented the third time in a row he has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead in a major. That he came up short in both the US Open, when exhaustion following his collapse and subsequent effort to play on played its part, and The Open at St Andrews, where he missed out on a play-off having left a crucial putt short at the 18th, was irrelevant. The four-year journey to this point had transformed Day from dreamer to believer.

“It probably would have caught me by surprise if I won a major back in 2011 compared to now,” he said. “I’ve done all the hard work, especially over the last four or five years, to really put myself to the point where I actually believe in myself, know that I’m one of the best players in the world and can beat anyone on my day.

“I really have to believe in myself, but if it happens, all that work that I’ve put in over the last four or five years has paid off. And sometimes it takes longer. Sometimes it takes a while before you finally see how you’re supposed to do it. It would be very gratifying (to win a major). It’s delayed gratification, rather than just really instant gratification, where most of us tend to want. But it’s the work and the process that we’ve put into our game to really build us up to points or possible wins.” Day’s preparedness to take the next step has been manifested this week by his stellar putting, needing just 24 putts on Saturday in posting his third-round 66.

“Every time I get on the green, I get excited. Whether it’s a birdie putt, par putt or bogey putt, doesn’t matter what it is, I get excited because I feel like I’m going to hole it. When you feel like that, it makes everything so much more fun and makes you want to hit more greens. And it takes a lot of pressure off your shoulders, too, if you’rehaving a good time on the greens.”

His excitement has been boosted in part by his performance at Chambers Bay when despite the vertigo that struck on the 36th hole he shot a 68 the following day and would finish tied for ninth.

“It was just more about how I could push myself mentally and physically. I mean, I wasn’t out there dying, but I felt pretty awful. I was playing dizzy. And with a stationary ball, it’s very hard to see the ball when you’re dizzy.

“But to be able to get through that week and then kind of keep that play up through The Open Championship (where he tied for fourth) and then, it was all working in the right direction for me because after a little bit of the frustration at the Open , to be able to come back and do what I did at the Canadian Open, winning that with three birdies on the final three holes, and then keeping that momentum going. Really just understanding what I needed to do. It gave me a lot of confidence, especially from the US Open.” When he spoke Saturday it was with the confidence of a winner and the belief of a major champion in waiting.

“My confidence level is high, but I’m just more enjoying just being out on the golf course, rather than in previous positions that I’ve had in Major Championships, I’ve viewed them as very stressful and kind of hard to go out and play the next day. But I’m enjoying myself so much on the golf course. It’s been fun to be out here in pressure situations. It’s good to be in contention, especially on Sunday. It’s good to have the lead, so that’s a plus.”