Exclusive interview: Jason Day is gunning for glory

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Overcoming adversity. Refusing to accept defeat. Bouncing back from heartbreak. Displaying immense mental strength when most would falter. Jason Day’s story has it all. Since losing his father, Alvin, to stomach cancer, aged 12, then watching his mother struggle to make ends meet, the 27-year-old Queenslander has been to hell and back. 

“We were poor when I was growing up,” he says. “I remember watching my mum cut the lawn with a knife because we couldn’t afford to fix the lawnmower. I remember not having a hot water tank so we had to use the kettle for hot showers.”

With over £12 million in earnings to date, lawnmowers and hot water are unlikely to be an issue for the Day family again, but anyone looking at a 12-year-old Australian, drinking heavily and getting into fights at school, would have been unlikely to peg him as a future Major winner. 

The only time Day wasn’t getting into trouble was on the golf course. “My dad gave me a golf club and would make me go and play golf every Sunday. I love golf, but I was kind of pushed into it,” he says. After taking up the game aged six, Day was winning regional events within two years. 

Jason Day

After Alvin’s death, Day’s mother, Dening, was so concerned about the way her son’s life was heading she took out a second mortgage on their modest house and borrowed from Jason’s aunt and uncle, using the money to send Jason to boarding school. That school was Kooralbyn International, and had a golf course attached. While there, Day borrowed
a book about Tiger Woods from his college roommate, and realised that golf offered him a chance to turn his life around. 

Practising every spare minute with coach Col Swatton, Day used the reports of Woods’ scores as his benchmark. By the age of 13, he had won the 2000 Australian Masters junior event with scores of 87, 78, 76 and 76. 

“Col has taken me from a young kid that was getting in fights at home and getting drunk at 12 to a Major champion winner,” says Day. “Not many coaches can say that.”

Day and Swatton’s relationship has been a much-needed constant in what was a life of instability. “Col means the world to me and I love him to death,” says Day. “To have him on my bag for not only my first PGA Tour win (the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship), but my first Major championship, it’s a surreal experience.” The emotions understandably ran high as Day sealed a long-awaited maiden Major at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. “A lot of emotion came out on 18,” says Day. “I was never expected to be where I am today.”

Jason Day

The significance of Day’s victory was heightened by a catalogue of Major near-misses, including three second-place finishes and three further top-fives. At this year’s Open, Day choked back tears after leaving a putt inches short on the final green, knowing it would have secured a spot in the play-off. 

Day’s ability has never been in question, but coming close so many times had led some to question whether he had the mental strength to get over the line when it mattered most. “I’ve worked with multiple mental coaches and tried a number of techniques and processes, but I believe the biggest way to prepare yourself for winning a Major is just the sheer experience of failure,” he says. “I’ve worked hard to understand and appreciate that you can learn from anything, even if it’s bad. That makes you mentally tough. 

“I strongly believe that the experiences I’ve had in the past with my previous Major finishes helped me prepare for a moment like this. Whether it was being close at the US Open, being close at The Open or close at Augusta, they all helped set me up for something in the future, and that happened at Whistling Straits.

“It would have been very tough for me to come back from a Major championship such as this if I hadn’t finished it off,” he adds. “Knowing that I had the 54-hole lead for the last three Majors and not being able to finish it, it would have been tough for me mentally to recover. Even though I feel like I’m a positive person, I think in the back of my mind something would have triggered and I would have questioned whether I could finish the job.”

Jason Day

Finish the job he did, and in emphatic style, setting the all-time scoring record for a Major with a 20-under-par total. “I had no idea about that record until it was over and someone told me about it, but it’s an extra special achievement,” says Day. “And I guess you can take me off the list of best players without a Major now!”

With the Major monkey off his back, the world number three is tipped to provide one-third of a dominant triumvirate alongside Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. 

“Golf is in a very healthy state right now,” says Day. “Three to five years ago it was struggling a little bit with the identity of who was really going to be that number one player in the world – who was going to be the next big thing. 

“Then Rory came out and was really dominating, but there was no one really challenging him for that role.”

Day is certainly up for the challenge, and has no intention of playing the third-wheel in a Spieth v McIlroy rivalry. “I still want to become the greatest player in the game,” he says. “Becoming world number one is a huge motivation for me. I’m very hungry for that. I always wanted to do that, ever since I was a little kid. My initial plan was to get to number one in the world by age 22. I ended up getting to number seven in the world by age 23, so I fell short by half a year and six places. But it’s a good accomplishment for a young kid, being in the top 10 in the world. 

“I’m looking forward to the future, being able to fight against these guys each week and have that competition against them. It’s going to be a lot of fun over the next five to 10 years.” 

 

Day’s right hand man…

Coach and caddie Col Swatton has been by Jason’s side since day one.

Jason Day

What are the most important aspects of your job?
I think it’s primarily reading the player, reading the circumstances, and knowing what to say and when to say it. When the player is on a roll you’ve got to basically stay out of their way. It’s about being aware of when they need you and when they don’t need you. A lot of caddies over-caddie their player when they’re on a roll, which can break the player. 

Does the amount of time you and Jason have spent together make that easier?
Being able to read the player comes with time. It’s all about communication. Jason may look calm, but be churning on the inside. It’s about him being able to verbalise how he feels so I can actually give him the advice he needs in order to feel more comfortable. Sometimes he’ll feel like he’s going to hit it too far, even though he has the right club, because he gets so amped up. 

Do you set a target score before each round?
We never put a score on it. We always say, ‘Okay, what’s the best way to play the course that suits Jason and is going to put us in a position to win the tournament?’ We know roughly what’s going to win, so it’s just a matter of executing the plan that we spend so much time to put together.  

How much do you work on Jason’s swing?
We do all our preparation in the off weeks and the days leading up to events. There’s nothing that we really change or tweak during an event. Jason obviously swings the club well enough to lead a golf tournament and it’s his goal to convert birdies and stay out of trouble. It’s not a game where you can go out there and bomb your way to a 64 or 65; you’ve got to work the ball around the golf course. 

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