World number three Jason Day is ready to face Augusta National, even without his usual preparation after positive news regarding his mother’s battle with cancer.
The Australian shocked the media by withdrawing from the WGC Match Play two weeks ago, only to reveal that his mother was to undergo surgery for lung cancer.
Her prognosis has improved remarkably, with the 29-year-old delighted that she will not need chemotherapy after a successful operation. Day lost his father to cancer when he was 12 and was overcome with emotion when he lifted his first Major, the 2015 PGA Championship.
He now enters The Masters without his usual thorough preparations, but does have a solid record in Georgia. Day finished T2 in 2011, third two years after that and T10 last year.
‘I’m a little bit unprepared, to be honest,’ Day told the media.
‘Usually I have a week or two more weeks of tournaments under my belt, maybe a week or two more weeks of practice, as well, and I didn’t pick up a club from Match Play till when I got here Friday. Because obviously, I was busy with my mom and busy with my family and all that stuff and not really thinking about playing golf.
‘I don’t know, maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe it’s a good thing.
‘But once again, I’m going to just do the best job I can with what I’ve got. Obviously, my priority and my main focus was my mother, and now that’s kind of evolved and taken care of, and I can start to focus more on the golf side of things and do the best job I can. That’s all I can really do, is control that.
‘I feel like things are coming along.
‘The swing feels much ‑ it’s amazing. Just being a lot happier and enjoying myself a lot more, the swing feels like I’m hitting it a lot better. The short game, I feel like I have more touch in my hands. I think the main shift, it’s shifting from off course back to on course now, and that’s my focus, and I’m starting to get all my touch and feels back in my swing.’
Jason Day begins his first round on Thursday at 10:56 with England’s Justin Rose and America’s Brandt Snedeker.
Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
