"I can't keep playing like this": Jason Day OPENS up on his PGA Tour struggles
"And when it hurts my body, then it hurts my mind, or the mental side of things. It's just, it's too much."
Five years ago Jason Day was the best player on the planet but now he is the forgotten man of the PGA Tour trying to work out what has gone so wrong.
It was in February in 2017 when Day, now 33 years old, rose to the top of the official world golf rankings and stayed there for 51 weeks.
Now it seems like a lifetime ago and so much has changed as we have a new breed of Americans all doing ridiculous and sublime things every week.
Day won his only major at the 2015 PGA Championship and has won 12 times on the PGA Tour but he's been winless since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship.
Since the beginning of 2020 he has had a dreadful time, missing 14 cuts in 36 starts and had to withdraw from two tournaments because of injury.
I miss 2015-2016 Jason Day pic.twitter.com/EroiBCp10c
— Golf Monthly (@GolfMonthly) December 23, 2020
But now he has opened up on his struggles where he has solemnly admitted that he cannot keep playing "like this" as it hurts his body and mind.
He doesn't expect to be playing too much in the immediate future too, which is sad considering when he's on form he's as good as anyone.
And he has had to face the question of: Is this worth it?
"Currently, I'm probably going to play three events in six months," he told the media in a press conference at The Summit Club this week at the CJ Cup.
How long Day will continue down this path is a question that he cannot answer at this moment in time, but he's going to keep focussing on mind and body.
"I'm like to the point where I can't keep playing golf the way that I am because it hurts my body," he said.
"And when it hurts my body, then it hurts my mind, or the mental side of things. It's just, it's too much."
"Come on in, the water's fine." -Jason Day (probably)pic.twitter.com/eBoHyLIgmW
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) May 2, 2019
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He added: "So I'm trying to take the right steps in place because if I can do that right now and do the right things, hopefully that will extend another 10 to 15 years of my career.
"I'm trying to play the long game right now, so I'm not really looking for anything. If results come quicker than expected, great, but I'm outside the top-50, I'm not currently in the majors other than the PGA, I'm outside the WGCs.
"So right now I'm just, I'm to the point where I'm just kind of working on myself personally and then trying to, you know, gain results through just the work that I'm putting in."
Day was asked about what he meant by focussing on his mind, to which the Australian opened up further.
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"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."
He also said he wanted to make sure golf is not "the thing that defines me" and that so long as he gives it his all "then it is what it is".
He's grown a lot as an individual over the last two years, he added.
"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," he said.
