Jason Day Overcomes Bad Back to Win the Match Play
- Dan Hauser
- 28 Mar, 2016
On Wednesday afternoon, it seemed far more likely that Jason Day would withdraw from the tournament then even sniff the championship match. Sure, he had just pretty easily beat Graeme McDowell 3&2 in the opening match of the Dell Match Play, but he was noticeably hobbled coming down the stretch, grabbing his back in so much pain you wondered how he was staying upright. After his win, he skipped his post round interview with Steve Sands of the Golf Channel and headed straight to the trailer to get his back worked on. Quickly the conversation turned to whether or not he would withdraw, or if he could still advance to the knockout round if he conceded his Thursday match against Paul Casey. Even his own camp told him to call it quits, knowing that the Masters was less than two weeks away.
“Four of my team tried to talk me out of it. I’m like just don’t worry about it,” Day said.
Turns out not listening to them might have been one of the best decisions all week. Casey had to withdraw six holes in to their Thursday match with a stomach bug, and Day used that extra rest, along with a strict treatment schedule to get through the entire week and win for the second week in a row.
I wanted to win,” Day said when asked about why he didn’t listen to his team and kept playing. “I wanted to win so bad that I felt with how I was playing, if I kept playing the way I was doing, I would be holding the trophy at the end of the week and that’s what kept me going.”
Day managed to make it through the group stage pretty unfazed after Wednesday’s back issue. The road to the championship didn’t get any easier though once he made it to the knockout round. He faced Brandt Snedeker in the quarterfinals and Brooks Koepka in the semifinals, beating them both 3&2 and showing no signs of any back issues in the process.
Having never seven seen the 18th hole all week, it seemed fitting that in his semifinal match against Rory Mcllroy, it all came down to 18 in what became the match of the week. The match featured seven lead changes and 11 combined birdies. The biggest of those birdies came on the 12th hole for Day. After Rory chose to bail right and take the water out of play, Day took the water on and it payed off, two putting for the birdie and taking a 1 shot lead that he would hold onto to win the match.
“I think the morning’s round was probably one of the hardest rounds I’ve had to go through in match play format, to try and get through,” Day said.”
After going shot for shot with Rory in the morning, the afternoon’s championship match lacked much of any excitement. Louis Oosthuizen, who beat Rafa Cabrera Bello 4&3 in the other semifinal was not match for Day, who beat him easily in the afternoon 5&4 for the championship.
“I couldn’t buy a birdie,” Oosthuizen said. “I played OK, but nothing spectacular. Up against a guy like Jason, you need to play 3 or 4 under to have a chance.”
In the consolation match, Cabrera Bello beat Rory 3&2. An even better consolation for the Spaniard was his deep run in the tournament got him his first ever invite down Magnolia Lane to play in the Masters next week.
“Really looking forward to it,” Cabrera Bello said about his first Masters invite. “I’m really going to start embracing playing in the Masters. Up to now I’ve just been focused on this week. But it was the only way you had to play. It’s really the reason I wanted to turn pro, watching Olazabal win the Masters, so it is going to be very special for me.”
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
