Jason Day: I’m not thinking about becoming top dog
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It’s a golfing bonus so dazzling that even the boldly ambitious Jason Day is trying to block it from his mind.
If he can win the Masters green jacket on Sunday – and world No.2 Adam Scott is not alone in second place – he will replace absent Tiger Woods as the world’s No.1 ranked golfer.
World No.4 Day, 26, has finished tied second and third in two of his three Masters appearances so the possibility of top spot in the world is very real.
Of course, the same tantalising prospect is also there for fellow Australian Scott in his Masters title defence and for world No.3 Henrik Stenson.
Scott can go No.1 if he just finishes tied third with no more than one other player, or better.
But Day doesn’t want to think about any of that when he tees off at Augusta National on Thursday.
“My goal is obviously to be able to get to No.1 one day and to have a green jacket, and I can do that in one week,” Day acknowledged.
“That’s exciting stuff for me, it really is, because I know that there’s been a lot of hard work and dedication that I’ve put into the game for many, many years and it could all pay off in one week.
“But you know, stuff like that, you’ve got to put it out of your mind. So I’m just not trying to think of that.
“I can’t get to No.1 if I don’t win, so my biggest thing is just to really focus on myself, and I just need to go out and not really think about the outcomes that could possibly happen.
“If I get caught up in stuff that can make my game go backwards.”
Greg Norman spent the last of his 331 weeks at No.1 in January 1998 and is the only Australian to ever hold the spot.
But with Woods missing from the Masters field for the first time in 20 years thanks to recent back surgery, the door has been opened for Scott and Day to take over.
It represents the third time in his career, Scott has had the chance to take over top spot, having failed to do so in his last two tournament starts.
Scott was tied 25th at the World Golf Championships Cadillac Championship in early March when he needed a victory and failed again when he surrendered a large lead to finish third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The 26-year-old stood on the 16th tee on Sunday last year with a two-shot lead before making two bogeys in a row to fall out of contention.
AAP