Jason Day is Glad Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are Bothered By His Success
By Michael Shamburger
Jason Day is the number one golfer in the world right now and there is absolutely no doubt about it. Day has won three tournaments this year, two were wire-to-wire wins and the Players happened to be one of those wins. In the time that Jason Day won three tournaments, Jordan Spieth had won none, until this past week at the Dean and DeLuca Invitational, where he played absolutely out of his mind on the back nine. Spieth only took nine putts on those nine holes and finished the back nine at five-under.
Day’s success seemed to motivate Spieth, along with a few other things like people in the crowd reminding him of his Masters choke, and he admitted as much, “He’s separated himself and that bothers me and it motivates me.”
Spieth’s quote didn’t fall on deaf ears and he went out and proved last week that he won’t be taken lightly and that, in turn, caught Day’s attention.
"“I heard a couple of weeks ago that it bothered Jordan that I was winning tournaments and have the number one spot in the world – and it should,” Day said. “It should bother guys who are competitive and want to stay on top as well. There’s nothing wrong with being bothered by that. “I hope it motivates them just as much as it motivates me to see other guys on top of the world winning tournaments. That’s just how some guys are pushed. I know I’m pushed that way as well when I see Rory or Jordan on top of the world. I want to do that as well. So it’s great to see how they’ve responded so quickly.”"
Basically Jason Day is telling McIlroy and Spieth, both who, along with Day, won their last events, to bring it.
We already know that Day is a very motivated person. In 2008, his rookie season, Day said that he wanted to be the number one golfer in the world, and now that he is, he’s not going to let up.
"“Yeah, I’m expecting myself to play well each and every week now just from the sheer hard work I’m putting into it and the preparation I’m putting in each week before the tournament,” he said. “So it comes as a little bit of a surprise if I play bad because I’m not expecting to do that.”"
The three are set to square off this week at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Unfortunately for us, while McIlroy and Spieth were grouped together with Justin Thomas, Day was put in a group with last year’s winner, David Lingmerth, and Jim Furyk.
Why can’t we have what we want? A group with the world number one, two, and three before a major championship would have been pretty spectacular.