19th Hole
Jason Day opens up on mental and physical demons
Jason Day’s career has been on a downward trajectory over the past few years, with the former Would Number 1 now in danger of missing out on multiple majors in 2022.
The Australian is ranked 79th in the world and is only exempt for the 2022 PGA Championship, and ahead of the CJ Cup this week, Day spoke frankly about his struggles.
“I’m a different player than what I was five years ago. I’m a different person. I have different priorities. I can’t work as hard as I used to just because of my body, and I’m OK with that.
I’m not trying to do the exact same thing that got me to No.1 in the world. I know that if I did that, I wouldn’t get there because my body wouldn’t handle it. So I’ve got to somehow be able to kind of learn as I go along and try and adapt as best I can.”
Day’s back has been a source of frustration for the Australian, who has had to pull out of multiple events in the past with injuries. Ahead of the CJ Cup, the Aussie revealed that he’d be playing just one more event (after CJ Cup) before January, meaning a long break from competitive golf was on the cards.
“I’m playing this week and I’m scheduled to play the Shootout, and then the next tournament I’ll play is Farmers Open. So I guess that’s three events in five, six months, something like that.
(I’ll be]) focusing a lot on my mind, focusing a lot on my body. Both are very much important, like both body and mind. Trying to work on myself personally, which is something that we don’t do enough of as professional athletes.
So I feel like things are progressing in what they need to do, but, you know, the level — the play that I’m expecting this week, I’m here just to see how things have progressed swing-wise. What that will, you know, produce result-wise will be interesting to see how it goes this week.”
Day also opened up on the stress that returning to his best form has caused him and how he plans to get back competing at a high level while enjoying himself more.
“I guess obviously we all battle demons, you know what I mean, and especially as golfers. It’s such an individual sport even though we do have, as individuals, we do have teams around us, but you’re out there battling yourself.
Try and discover that golf is not the thing that defines me, you know what I mean? If I play bad golf, as long as I give it everything that I can, then it is what it is, the results are the results. Not to always have golf on my mind is what I’m saying. I just don’t need to have that stress and that anxiety of actually going and performing because everyone else thinks I should be performing the way that they should.
So there’s a lot of expectations not only on the golf course on myself, but also have other people around you and whatnot. I feel like these last two years I’ve grown a lot as kind of an individual because I have stopped battling these things and you learn to go, okay, well, I’m either going to quit the game because I don’t want to feel like this and it’s not motivating and I’m struggling with it, or how do I handle it and tackle it head on and be able do it in a healthy way where for the next 10, 15 years, if I want to, I actually enjoy myself on the golf course while competing at a high level.
I think the biggest thing is do I want to climb that mountain again. I’ve got to take it easy and I’ve got to be smart about it because if I’m not smart about it, then it could be short-lived.”
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19th Hole
‘You’re a f*****g traffic cone!’ – Brooks Koepka heckles Aaron Ekblad at Florida Panthers game
Brooks Koepka is preparing to play in this week’s LIV event in Orlando. While in Florida, the four-time major champion attended a Florida Panthers game.
At the game, Koepka was seen taunting Aaron Ekblad, who was the first overall pick in the draft in 2014, with a traffic cone.
Brooks can be seen in the video yelling, “Ekblad you suck” as well as calling him a “traffic cone” with the prop in hand.
Is that Brooks Koepka calling Ekblad a fucking traffic cone from the stands in Florida??
?: IG/floridapanthersfp pic.twitter.com/LqolbAuYYt
— Missin Curfew (@MissinCurfew) March 26, 2023
So far this season, Koepka has finished 31st at LIV Mayakoba and 29th at LIV Tucson. He’ll be teeing it up at The Masters next week in search of his 5th major championship.
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- Paige Spiranac to take on PGA Tour legend in celebrity challenge match this Summer
- ‘That’s what everybody wants me to do’ – Is Anthony Kim about to make a sensational return to pro golf?
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19th Hole
‘Never mind the Masters’ – Gary Player explains why he ranks the Masters dead last of all the majors
In an interview with Sportsmail, Gary Player spoke about which major championship he believes is the best among them. The 87-year-old won nine major championships, including the Masters three times and The Open Championship three times.
“But never mind the Masters, the Open is by far the greatest tournament on the planet.”
Interestingly, Player ranked the Masters fourth of the four majors.
“I rate the Open at one, the US Open two, PGA three and Augusta four,’ he adds. Four marvelous tournaments.”
When asked why he ranked the Masters after the other three, Player said it was because the others have been around longer.
“It’s the youngest of the majors. The others are steeped in tradition and history, and they still have to catch up. Nothing comes to the top without time.”
Speaking of The Masters, Player also spoke about Rory McIlroy’s quest for the career grand slam, of which he’s still one green jacket short. Player believes McIlroy will win and needs to do so sooner rather than later to cement his spot amongst the greatest players of all time.
‘He’s got the best swing in the world by a mile,’ Player says. ‘He’s won four majors but none since 2014. I think he will win the Masters because the course is made for him. I think if he does that, he’ll go down as one of the greats, but that’s something he has to do.
“I’ve always said my judgment of superstars is they have to win six majors. People these days say anyone who wins is a superstar. No. It’s not easily done, but I believe Rory can.”
More from the 19th Hole
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- Paige Spiranac to take on PGA Tour legend in celebrity challenge match this Summer
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At one stage in his career, it looked as if Tiger Woods becoming the record major holder was a formality, but for whatever factors that never materialised.
In an interview with Sportsmail, Gary Player spoke about Tiger Woods and his quest to break Jack Nicklaus’s major championship record, and has his own view on why Tiger never surpassed Jack’s record.
Player, who won nine major championships himself, said that he believes Ben Hogan was the “greatest” golfer he’d ever seen, but Tiger Woods was the most talented.
‘The greatest I ever saw was Ben Hogan,’ he says. ‘He went to war for five years and then had a terrible car accident, so never played in 30 majors. Nobody had a streak like he had (winning his nine majors in the space of 16 starts). If I was a young boy today, I’d watch his swing from 1953 every day.”
‘Tiger Woods was the most talented golfer the planet has ever seen but he made a few bad decisions, which we all do.”
“Having lessons when he won the US Open by 15 shots was inconceivable — if he never went for a lesson, he would have won 20 majors minimum and he would have beat Nicklaus’s record.”
Player is referencing the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which Woods won by 15 shots. Just two years later, Tiger completely renovated his golf swing, which in retrospect looks as if it may have been a mistake.
More from the 19th Hole
- Pat Perez reportedly confronts journalist over ‘snarky’ comment at opening LIV event
- Paige Spiranac to take on PGA Tour legend in celebrity challenge match this Summer
- ‘That’s what everybody wants me to do’ – Is Anthony Kim about to make a sensational return to pro golf?
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Benny
Oct 15, 2021 at 4:56 pm
Easily said when you have made tens of millions off sponsors and millions off the wins. But its just the same bs anyone would say when that fore is gone. I get it and cannot say I wouldn’t be the same. Thats the hardest part. Working that hard full time throttle down all while raking in the $$$. Anyone would let off.