Day: February 15, 2017

Tight at the topTight at the top

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Jason Day started 2017 with the desire to be just the fourth player in history to hold World No.1 for a calendar year. We’re just halfway through February, and his dream could be over this week. Day has sat on the throne for 47 consecutive weeks and 51 weeks overall in his career but now finds his place under significant threat, and from several players. The five players lined up behind him in Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson, Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth are now right in the Australian’s shadow. Johnson or Matsuyama could leave the Genesis Open on top of the golf mountain if results go their way. Fresh off his win last week, Spieth is also getting close to a return to the top spot. While another victory this week for the Texan would still pull up short of the mark, it would have him very close indeed. McIlroy and Stenson are not in the field at Riviera Country Club, or anywhere around the world, but will stake their claims in the coming weeks. Day last won at the 2016 PLAYERS Championship, sending his average world ranking points to 13.2295 at the time, well clear at the top. But now he’s dropped back to single digits at 9.9806 and the sharks are circling. Spieth sits just 1.3916 average points behind in 6th, creating one the most bunched groups in rankings history. There have been countless times with two, three or even four guys jostling at the top, but to have six players all in the immediate mix speaks to the depth in the current game. “It’s kind of just up for grabs right now is what it feels like,” Spieth said last week at Pebble Beach. “It’s great. I think it’s cool. There’s a lot of young incredible talent that’s on the top of their game.” Before he conquered the goal, Day made no secret of his desire to be the world’s best player. He even struggled to answer the question of being offered World No. 1 status or a green jacket at one point. Now the 29-year-old admits trying to stay there has proven the be a very tough prospect. He wouldn’t trade it without a fight, but the extra spotlight can take a toll. “To get there even for one week is pretty special. No one can take that, you were No. 1 in the world for one week away from you, which is great,” Day said as he prepares to return to Riviera for the first time since 2012. “But being No.1 in the world is tough. It really is. It’s exciting. It’s a good place to be and I wouldn’t trade it for the world even though it’s mentally and sometimes physically demanding. “It is a lot of pressure but you’ve got to keep fighting and keep pushing forward – trying to find a way to stay there.” Spieth has experience in the challenge Day speaks of, having lost his 26-week tenure at the top to the current No.1. The 23-year-old said the danger of complacency was real once you reach the top. Protecting a lead is harder than chasing a leader. “You can’t be satisfied and (expect to just) stay there. There’s just too many guys that are too good right behind that are not there that are just trying to work so hard to get there,” he said. “I have probably been working harder at my game this year from the new year on than I did through those periods in 2015. I want to get back. I want to be back in the winner’s circle in a Major. I want to win five plus tournaments in a year. “It’s easy to just sit there and say, oh, things are going well, let’s just keep doing what we’re doing. Doing what you’re doing got you there, but you almost need that next level, you almost need that next person in front of you.” And so, Tiger Woods’ record 683 weeks at the top blows his mind. “It’s just amazing what he was capable of doing in his own head to be able to do that. It’s nuts. As a player who has reached that and is trying to get back there, I think he’s underrated, which is incredible to say, because he’s rated the greatest of all time,” Spieth continued. “I still think that what he was able to do mentally, in this game, where so much of it is in your head, for just years and years and years, it’s incredible.” Given Day’s three trips to Riviera Country Club have not been good ones, the threat of getting the 20th different player to reach No.1 is real this week. Day has two missed cuts and a T62 on his resume in Los Angeles. Johnson has finished in the top four of the event five times in the last seven years, most recently being runner up in both 2014 and 2015 before placing 4th last year. Matsuyama has been inside the top 25 in all three of his previous Genesis Open starts including a T4 in 2015. He also comes in having won five of his last nine worldwide starts and with the lead in the FedExCup. “It’s always been one of my goals and it would be a great goal to be able to achieve,” Matsuyama said of the prospect of getting to the top this week. “But whether it happens this week or next or sometime in the future, I’ll just keep working hard and hopefully that will happen. “I know that it is a possibility but I can’t control what Jason does this week. All I can do is go out and try my best and hopefully things will fall into place.” Only time will tell what will happen but if Day does manage to meet his goal of spending 2017 at the top… he will have certainly earned it. “The more you focus on the actual target itself, the more you attach yourself to it, you make mental errors out there, you get more frustrated, you do silly things on the golf course that you shouldn’t be doing,” Day said. “I need to focus on hitting the shot in front of me, going to the next shot and hitting that and trying to beat everyone else because I know that as long as I win, it will take care of it. I won’t even have to worry about someone coming and trying to take it, or it being bunched up as it is right now. “If someone takes it off me, I’m okay with it. I’m not going to be angry or sad about it. It just goes to show that I need to work harder, need to be smarter and try and win more tournaments.”

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