Jason Day aims to tear up Farmers field again to kickstart season

The Australian's victory at Torrey Pines last year was the catalyst for his rapid rise to world No 1

Jason Day in action (Reuters)

How is this for a guest list at the barn dance? Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Patrick Reed, Hideki Matsuyama, not to mention Brandt Snedeker, JB Holmes and Paul Casey.

That is the top of the order at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines this week and the quality of field Jason Day must beat to keep up with the golfing Joneses, aka Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.

Had McIlroy holed just a couple more putts to finish first, not third, in Abu Dhabi last week, he would have leapfrogged Day into second spot in the world rankings. Then again, after eight weeks without reaching for a club, McIlroy can claim some satisfaction. Spieth took his share, too, posting a top-five finish after an indifferent second round.

Day missed yesterday’s pro-am event after being laid low with a virus but hopes to be well enough to start his second outing of the year after his top-10 finish behind Spieth at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He stood down for 12 weeks following the Presidents Cup last September to be present at the birth of his second child Lucy and support his wife Ellie, who suffered postnatal depression after their son Dash was born.

Victory at Torrey Pines in this tournament a year ago was the catalyst to his own rise in 2015. Though Day was blinded by the Spieth light at the Masters and US Open, he came to the fore at The Open at St Andrews, where he was inches from a place in the play-off after his birdie putt at the 72nd hole rolled up short.

Day spoke in the aftermath of the disappointment of missing a destiny he always thought would be his, and at the very next major at Whistling Straits he walked through that door, holding off Spieth in the final pair to claim the US PGA Championship. With that victory he delivered on the vast potential first revealed to an American audience as a 16-year-old amateur in 2004, when he won at Torrey Pines in the Callaway Junior World Golf Championship.

Now, at 28, he has matured into one of the best three golfers on the planet, with as much game as McIlroy off the tee and a match for Spieth between the ears. Like Spieth, his challenge is to maintain the standards reached last year by making statements against an elite field like this and jostle for the world No 1 spot he held for four weeks.

“I knew that I had the ability to do it, but I didn’t think I could have gone on a run like that, win my first major, get to No 1 in the world. It all happened very quickly. It was a spark, but I felt like I handled it pretty good,” Day said.

“It was a great year. I can’t say any more about how good it was, and even to top it off, we had a second child, Lucy. It was kind of big for me to stay with the family, because it’s been written down before, but Ellie dealt with postpartum depression with Dash, so I wanted to make sure I was there for Ellie and Dash and Lucy.”

Day’s accomplishments are all the more remarkable given his continuing battle with vertigo, which saw him collapse on the ninth fairway at Chambers Bay in the US Open. “I’m seeing the doctor at Ohio State University Hospital, who is helping me out big time. We did a bunch of tests just in the off-season, like these eye tests and vertigo tests and all that stuff. [The results] seemed to come back pretty good.”

Making his PGA Tour debut is Ireland’s rookie European Tour pro Paul Dunne, who earned an invite with his performance at St Andrews, where, while still an amateur, he led The Open after three days. “That opened a few doors for me,” Dunne said. “I got three invites on the European Tour straight away and I have a couple here in America now. So obviously without my play in The Open I probably wouldn’t have these.”

Pablo Larrazabal and Louis Oosthuizen share the lead after the first round of the Qatar Masters, both carding seven birdies and no bogeys in flawless rounds in Doha.