Preparing for his first PGA tournament title defense in five years, Australian Jason Day said he had not been “happy” with his game lately and said his iron play was “letting me down.”
Day made the comments Wednesday at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas, ahead of this week’s Byron Nelson tournament.
Day ended a five-year winless drought last year at this tournament – “a little too long if you ask me” – and is now the defending champion.
While he talked about how “mentally strong” he can be in general, right now it’s his irons that are giving him problems.
He has finished 30th or worse three times in his last five tournaments, and has missed the cut twice.
“As far as my game goes, I wasn’t that happy or happy with it,” he said.
“My short game has been fantastic. The putting has been fantastic. Off the tee it has been fantastic. The iron play has let me down a little bit.
“So I’m working on some things with (coach) Chris (Como) to try to alleviate some of the stress and pressure that iron play is putting on the rest of my game.
“I feel like I’ve taken a step forward, which has been fantastic.”
Day said he didn’t celebrate his victory last year, the 13th of his career.
The Australian also said he wanted to play golf for the right reasons, something that wasn’t the case a few years ago.
“Just before last year, when I was playing good golf, I was doing it for the wrong reasons,” Day said.
“You know, I want to look to the future and understand that golf is more like a marathon and it’s a long race if you want it to be that way; to play from a place more of love and passion for I think it’s much healthier to play this game than having a resentment.”
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Reuters/ABC
