As Jason Day prepares to enter an impressive 10th BMW Championship in 13 seasons, the Queenslander let a cat out of the bag Tuesday morning. Correction, he let a BIG CAT out of the bag by revealing he’s turned to the biggest cat of them all for swing advice.
Taking time out of his busy schedule to chat to a select group of Australian golf writers via teleconference, the 2015 BMW Championship winner revealed he has approached Tiger Woods for help in a bid to rediscover his winning mojo following his split from long-time mentor Colin Swatton.
“I have been talking to Tiger about his swing and what he’s been through,” says Day.
“I think he still has the best swing out there, especially with his irons. It’s amazing.
“He’s gone through some back issues (like me), and I think he’s doing a lot of good things to try and alleviate his pain, obviously what he’s going through right now in regards to his back.
“I just feel like I’ve asked questions and he’s willing to answer them, and I’m trying to make changes right now in my swing. I’m trying to make slow changes because I really don’t want to mess with my playing feels.”
RELATED: AFTER PARTING WAYS, SWING COACH COLIN SWATTON SAYS JASON DAY HAS GOOD GOLF LEFT IN HIM
Day admitted he had enjoyed a life-changing run with Swatton, who came into his life as a wayward 12-year-old in desperate need of direction, but the time was now right to go their separate ways.
“Working with Col through my career was an amazing run, and we had tremendous times together on and off the golf course,” adds Day. “I think it was just time for us to kind of part ways. I just felt like it was just time.
“Regarding a coach long term, I don’t have an immediate plan per se. I just feel like this has just been – with the quarantine, COVID, coming back and everything is condensed really, really tightly and then we have the FedExCup Playoffs right now and then we have a week off and then US Open and then not too long after that we have a bunch of tournaments in a row and then Augusta at the end of the year, it’s just really difficult for me to at least go around and talk to any coaches or the potential of having a coach.”
One thing that is certain, according to the world No.35, is that he hasn’t lost the hunger to get back to the top.
“I am very motivated to get back to No.1 in the world,” he declared. “I know that I’m currently 35th in the world right now, and I know there’s a lot of young guys out there, but the good thing about golf is that it really doesn’t matter how far you hit it when you come out or how good a touch you have around the greens. You have to put everything together.
“I feel like I’m starting to understand my game a lot more, and with the experience that I’ve had, I feel like I’ll be able to handle being No.1 a lot better than what I did in the past. Sometimes people will say they want to get to No.1 but they don’t really want to. My whole purpose in golf right now is to try and get myself back to No.1 because I just don’t feel like it’s good enough for me to be at 35 in the world when I know that I can still be No.1 in the world.”
Coming off a missed cut at TPC Boston last week, Day currently sits 50th in the FedEx Cup standings and will need a good finish this week to move into the Top 30 and stamp his ticket to the season-ending Tour Championship.
