Day: Players Championship doubters motivated me
After hoisting The Players Championship trophy aloft for the first time, world number one Jason Day revealed not being considered one of the favourites to win the tournament motivated him to victory.
Day romped to a wire-to-wire four-stroke win at the notoriously challenging TPC Sawgrass on Sunday, having matched the course record in a spectacular opening round.
However, prior to the prestigious PGA Tour tournament teeing off, all eyes were on defending champion Rickie Fowler, returning two-time major winner Jordan Spieth, Masters victor Danny Willett and world number three Rory McIlroy in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.
And Day, who missed the cut at last year’s event, admitted being overlooked drove him to succeed.
“Coming to this week, I was watching the Golf Channel earlier this week. I didn’t tell anyone, but watching these guys actually that’s on TV, and they said that I really didn’t play well around this, and it’s true, I never played good around this golf course,” Day said afterwards.
“I’m not saying they didn’t count me out, but it was very difficult for me to actually do what I did this week and play the way I did.
“I think not only that gave me a bit of extra motivation, seeing that on TV, being the number one player in the world and kind of not being one of the guys to look at to win the tournament, but I think it’s more for myself and the hard work that I put into my game coming into this week, and especially the year, coming off two wins earlier this year and feeling good about my game knowing that I just had to get in there and try and want it more than anyone else.”
The final-round 71 delivered a seventh Tour title to Day in 17 starts, as Kevin Chappell settled for the runners-up cheque at 11 under through 72 holes.
Day now has 10 PGA Tour titles in total but the Australian is not content with his trophy haul.
“I look at 10 PGA Tour wins, and I say to myself, that’s not enough, and it isn’t enough for me. It’s just 10. I want more than 10,” the 28-year-old said.
“I look at Tiger and he’s 79 or 80 or whatever it is, and Phil is up there, and I want to be able to be looked back on and know that he was one of the greats in the game.
“If I have the opportunity to do that, I’m going to try my best. And I have the opportunity to do that right now, try and work as hard as I can to really leave my footprint in this game that has given me so much.
“I’m motivated to be number one. I’m motivated to extend that lead, but I’m very motivated to win as much as I can right now.”
