London: Fresh off his PGA Championship victory, Australian Jason Day said on Wednesday he wants to finish the season strong and then take the next step in his pursuit of a career Grand Slam of golf’s four blue riband events.
Day’s short-term goal is to win the PGA Tour’s lucrative season-ending FedExCup playoffs, starting next week at The Barclays in New Jersey, and then perform well in the October 8-11 Presidents Cup in South Korea.
But following the biennial team competition between the Internationals and the United States, the 27-year-old Australian Day will be focused on adding the Masters, US Open and British Open titles to his resume.
“I have not picked myself a number,” Day told reporters on a conference call when asked how many majors he’d like to win.
“The only number that I will pick is what I get at the end of my career. I’m going to try and win as many as I can, and it would be fantastic to win all four at one point in my career.” Achieving a career grand slam would put Day in elite company as Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Gene Sarazen are the only golfers to have accomplished the feat.
Day, who had nine top-10 finishes in the majors before Sunday’s triumph at Whistling Straits, has spent the past three days resting and spending time with family. He said he’s also been flooded with hundreds of congratulatory messages.
He would like to take the championship Wanamaker Trophy to Australia to celebrate with supporters back home but will not be making the trip as his wife is expecting their second child.
“I can finally be out of the question or out of the picture of what people would look at me as one of the best players without a major,” said Day.
“I’m just really pleased to finally get it off my back and really just kind of focus on what I need to do now, and that is to work as hard as I can to get as many majors as I can right now.” Meanwhile, Tiger Woods will attempt to bounce back from his latest Major disappointment when he tees off at the Wyndham Championship hoping for an unlikely victory to catapult him into the Fedex Cup playoffs.
The fallen world number one missed the cut at last week’s PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, the third time this year he has failed to go beyond the halfway stage at a Major tournament.
A win would guarantee Woods a spot in the first leg of the four-tournament playoffs, although a solo second finish could be enough to elevate him into the top 125 players eligible for the postseason.
A relaxed and smiling Woods showed no sign of the gloom which has enveloped his game this year when he played a pro-am on Wednesday alongside Los Angeles Clippers NBA star Chris Paul.
Woods said the key to his performance in North Carolina this week would be greater consistency. “I need to get more consistent with everything and start stringing together, not just holes, not just rounds, but tournaments,” Woods told reporters.
