‘It meant so much’: Olympic moment that changed Jason Day’s view of representing Australia
He is one of Australia’s greatest ever golfers and representing his homeland at the Paris Games gave Jason Day a whole new appreciation for his homeland.
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A major winner and former world number one, Jason Day is rightly regarded as one of Australia’s greatest golfers.
He’s also one of the most misunderstood, an unwitting victim of his own success on the fairways and in everyday life.
An Aussie battler who made it big in America, where he’s happily married with five children, for years, Day has copped some flak for not returning home to Australia more often.
By his own admission, he could have tried harder, but there were some extraordinary and painful mitigating circumstances that prevented him from making the long-haul flight across the Pacific Ocean.
He had his own well-publicised health issues, mainly with his crooked back, then his mother Dening was diagnosed with lung cancer.
She relocated to Ohio to be closer to her son, so he spent as much time as he could with her until she passed away in 2022.
Next month, Day is coming back to Queensland to play the Australian PGA Championship.
It’ll be his first tournament at home in seven years but he’s feeling anxious, unsure about how he’ll be received.
“The amount of times I’ve missed, I feel like I’m not welcome back anymore,” he told this masthead.
He really has no need to be worried.
While he may have a smattering of critics, Day remains a hugely popular figure among the Australian galleries and will be a massive drawcard when he tees off at Royal Queensland.
His nerves are partly because he feels obliged to play well enough to win the tournament to repay the fans who have stuck by him during his fleeting absence.
“I’m excited and nervous in the same sentence,” he said.
“I’m always excited to get back home to Australia. I haven’t been back for a while, but I’m nervous as well because I really want to play well. I want to play well for people that have come to watch the golf tournament.
“I haven’t won in Australia and that’s one thing that I do want to do is win. It’s something on my goals list to win a tournament.”
Approaching his 37th birthday, Day has spent almost half his life in the US after turning professional in 2006, joining the PGA Tour, falling in love and starting a family.
By any measure, he’s been a phenomenal success, winning 19 professional tournaments, including a major – the 2015 PGA Championship – and the prestigious Players’ Championship in 2016.
His tournament earnings alone exceed more than $90 million, not including his sponsorships, endorsements and appearance fees.
Day might also consider himself unlucky not to have won more of the sport’s biggest prizes, having finished runner-up at all four majors, but rather than curse his misfortune, he’s grateful for what he’s achieved after he was introduced to golf at age six when his father gave him a gift that would change his life forever.
A meatworker struggling to make ends meet, Alvin Day was rummaging through piles of garbage at a rubbish tip in Australia when he spotted an old golf club that someone had thrown away.
He gave it to his son as a present and he proved to be a natural, working his way to the top the old fashioned with blood, sweat and tears.
Those that know him, say Day has never forgotten his roots, but that hasn’t prevented the naysayers from questioning his loyalty to Australia.
“Everyone’s got a right to their own opinion. I could have done a little bit more obviously to try and get back,” he said “But I’m never gonna make everyone happy.
“I’m trying to do the best possible job I can to play good golf, and then, on top of it, support my family in regards to being there for them.
“There’s really only three pillars in my life that really matter to me, it’s my family, golf and my health. And those three things obviously have to come first.
“With that being said, I’m hoping that I come back and I play well and I win, and then I’m coming back the next year and hopefully I turn that into a habit.”
The doubts about Day’s allegiance to his birthland began to grow when he turned down the chance to represent Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics, during his reign as the world number one.
He said at the time that he was withdrawing because of his concerns about the Zika virus but later admitted he was exhausted and indifferent to playing at the Olympics.
He didn’t qualify for Tokyo but did make the team for Paris and said the experience just blew his mind, which in part has inspired his return home next month.
“I’ve never felt that much nerves in my life actually wearing the green and gold and representing the country,” he said.
“I thought I’d have a little bit of nerves but I was on the tee and I was shaking.
“It was unbelievable. The crazy thing was that I’ve been in plenty of situations at major championships, leading major championships and being around the lead (but) I never felt like that before in my life other than being on that tee box wearing the colours that I was wearing and then representing Australia. It was the most nerve racking I’ve ever experienced.
“To represent Australia in Paris, it was mind blowing to me on how deep it meant to me … it definitely changed my mind of how I see the Olympics and what it takes to be an athlete and represent your country.”
Originally published as ‘It meant so much’: Olympic moment that changed Jason Day’s view of representing Australia
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