The greatest golfer ever says the key to Jason Day securing a first major championship win is to dial back his aggression slightly.

Jack Nicklaus, an 18-time major champion, urged patience and intelligence as Day tries to claim his first major at the US Open this week following several near misses in his young career.

Day, now 27, has seven top-10 finishes, including three runner-ups, a third and a fourth in just 18 starts as he enters Chambers Bay.

• Jason’s Day will come, says Tiger
• Adam Scott wants spark from caddie Williams
• Where is Australia’s best golf getaway?

At world No.10 he once again sits on the lips of many pundits when talking favourites for the tournament, which starts on Friday (AEST).

“It is a pretty good start for his major career,” Nicklaus said of Day, who holds membership at his Ohio Muirfield Village.

Nicklaus said often the mental game can be the hurdle players need to leap to start the ball rolling.

“You have to understand who you are and you have to understand everybody else is having the same problems you are,” he added.

“So sometimes you put a little bit of pressure on yourself and you try to do more when it is when you should do less.

“Generally speaking when you see a guy who is there a lot and can’t quite push it over the top I try to say be more patient with yourself in the game.”

Nicklaus, who famously is said to have commented he only ever hit it close if he pushed or pulled it as he would aim at the centre of greens, has offered the same advice for Day.

The Queenslander is an aggressive player who is not afraid to go for it despite the fact late bogeys cruelled his chances at the Masters and US Open in 2013.

“If you’re playing to pins that are 10 feet from the right of the green and you usually go just left of the hole I say take it a little further left of the hole until you start gaining the confidence that you can do what you can do to finish the golf tournament,” Nicklaus said.

“Winning breeds winning. I think Jason has a beautiful golf swing, he hits it a mile.

“He just needs to get a few more wins under his belt and maybe a major will be one of those.”

– AAP