Straight shooters to star

Golf expert Ben Coley has tips ranging from 28/1 to 350/1 for the OHL Classic, in which he tipped the winner last year.

Events like the OHL Classic may not set the pulse racing, if for you golf's greatest gift is seen in battles between the best players in the biggest and most valuable events.

But make no mistake: as a punter, as someone who wants to make some money from betting on the sport, it is among the highlights of the season, one of a small collection of tournaments whose profile runs the opposite direction to the game in general.

It's impossible to watch those biggest and most valuable events without acknowledging the ongoing shift towards youth and power. Henrik Stenson might have took the Open Championship for the 40-plus brigade, but he's not your average 40-something and it's no surprise his victory came on a links golf course.

Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Jordan Spieth, and Dustin Johnson are the game's best players, all either young, powerful, or both. Hideki Matsuyama is on his way to joining them while the new stars who emerged at the Ryder Cup were the likes of Brooks Koepka and Thomas Pieters - two more youngsters with power at their fingertips.

If you cannot be powerful and you are not young, this is a hard sport in which to be competitive. Russell Knox is an example of what can be achieved against the odds - his runner-up finish here last year came on the heels of a breakthrough win, which he's subsequently added to - but when it came to Ryder Cup selection, it was Pieters' power rather than Knox's accuracy which turned the head of Darren Clarke.

This is no bad thing and golf will likely be a stronger sport for the athletic movement, but for those who play the game the old-fashioned way, it does mean chances to compete are reduced. Those such players, like us, will relish the arrival of the OHL Classic at El Camaleon, where straight hitting is king.

Last year's play-off saw three of the 15 most accurate drivers on the PGA Tour do battle and Graeme McDowell come out on top, while the likes of John Huh, Johnson Wagner, Mark Wilson, Brian Gay, Cameron Beckman and Fred Funk all put hitting fairways at the top of their skill sets when at their very best, and are all on the roll of honour.

Because this is golf, there's always room for an anomaly such as Charley Hoffman beating Shawn Stefani, while the statistics say that Harris English was not especially accurate when he romped to victory in the preceding renewal. But all three of these men stayed largely away from trouble, and to do so requires a degree of control from the tee.

All of which suggests to me that the 350/1 quoted about KJ Choi is an insulting misrepresentation of his chance.

Not to say it surprises me. So often, older players are swiftly cast out with the washing whenever their form wavers and that is the case with Choi, who performed poorly in two FedEx Cup Playoff events and then finished down the field in the no-cut CIMB Classic on his return.

Still, it's just four starts since he finished 22nd in a major championship, one dominated by power and youth, and two top-five finishes last season show that in the right set of circumstances, he can still be very competitive.

Choi was 20th here on debut in 2010 and while missing the cut on his return last year, he did so by just a couple of shots and had a handful of holes to blame, a double, a triple and a pair of par-five bogeys costing him a place in round three.

And while his scoring at the CIMB wasn't good, Choi was inside the top 10 for driving accuracy, having ranked 20th on the PGA Tour last season. He is not the player he was, but remains highly effective from the tee on these shorter, coastal golf courses.

Choi also chipped and putted well last year but key to this selection is his form at correlating course, which includes victory in the Sony Open, two titles at Innisbrook and a PLAYERS Championship. They confirm what we know to be true: that courses like Waialae, like Copperhead, like Sawgrass and like El Camaleon are those which bring out his best.

It also has to be a boost to Choi's chances to see 47-year-old Rod Pampling win last week while he's finished sixth in the Texas Open at TPC San Antonio, a course which, like this one, was designed by Greg Norman and has thrown up some very similar leaderboards and a double champion in Hoffman.

There is of course every chance that Choi's game is simply not in good enough shape to perform for 72 holes in what is a surprisingly deep field, but at anything in the region of 200/1 and upwards I'm prepared to have him on-side.

Jim Furyk makes his debut in the event and is another who should relish the challenge.

I don't believe it to be a coincidence that in just a few short weeks since the Ryder Cup, the European Tour has produced two winners who featured in non-playing roles at Hazeltine.

Padraig Harrington was a key part of Darren Clarke's support staff, while Thorbjorn Olesen was invited along by mentor Thomas Bjorn to get a taste of an event he may one day take part in. Victories for Harrington and Olesen owe something, I'm sure, to their involvement with Team Europe.

There's been limited opportunity to test this theory on the US, especially so given Tiger Woods' withdrawal from the Safeway Open, but given how well suited Furyk is to El Camaleon, I consider it to be a factor worth paying attention to.

Like Choi, Furyk has won at both Copperhead and Waialae, while he's also won twice at Harbour Town, should've won at Sea Island, and probably would've won at Southwind had he taken part in the FedEx St Jude Classic at any point down the years.

Furyk also has two top-six finishes in three visits to TPC San Antonio and despite having had to battle his way back to the PGA Tour after a significant wrist injury, still ended last season as one of the most accurate drivers around.

I must admit to being slightly concerned that this will be his first start since September, but the aforementioned near-miss at Sea Island came on the back of a similar absence and the last time he made his seasonal return through choice rather than after an injury lay-off, he contended before falling to seventh after a poor final round, again by the coast.

In other words, he's old enough and wise enough to know how to prepare and his very appearance here in Mexico is a signal of intent. I'll be disappointed if he doesn't go close.

I put up McDowell in this event last year and the case was based around a classy performer with form at all the right tracks who had started to show signs of a return to peak form.

There are a handful of contenders who fit that profile this week, and pick of them in my mind is Billy Horschel.

The Floridian wasn't far behind McDowell when the Northern Irishman won at Harbour Town, while he's got a fine record at Sea Island, TPC San Antonio and Southwind, too.

Last week, he made an electric start to the Shriners, played on a course far less suited to his game, and looked likely to launch a title challenge before thinning a bunker shot on his way to a momentum-sapping double-bogey during round two.

From there, Horschel was never quite at the races but it still goes down as an encouraging start to the season, particularly on the greens where a new PXG putter worked wonders.

Horschel only needs to putt to a decent standard to be very dangerous and he's clearly itching to prove that his 2014 FedEx Cup win, the product of the best golf of his career, was no flash in the pan.

I'm as certain as he is that there are more titles to be won and a ball-strikers' course like El Camaleon offers a good opportunity.

As with Furyk, it's significant that Horschel is even in the field and he clearly sees this as an opportunity he can't afford to miss, having finished 13th on his debut in 2011 despite being in awful form at the time, and 30th a year later on his only subsequent start.

On both occasions, Horschel struck the ball beautifully and if he can marry that comfort on this course with the putting he showed in Las Vegas, he'll go very close indeed.

This event has strong Spanish ties and we shouldn't be surprised if the awesome talent that is John Rahm gets off the mark this week, while Harris English will undoubtedly be popular after converting good ball-striking to a top-five finish at the Shriners.

Pat Perez has played marvellously well back from a lay-off and is respected, Zac Blair is another straight shooter who could plot a path to victory at a huge price while the Aussies, the pick of whom is Marc Leishman, are sure to be inspired by Pampling's achievements.

But I'll sign off with two more solid ball-strikers, starting with Si-woo Kim.

Aged just 21, Kim provided one of the stories of last season as he went all the way to East Lake, picking up his first PGA Tour title along the way.

The South Korean held off a bunch of vastly more experienced players to land the Wyndham Championship, a performance made all the more impressive by the fact he putted extremely poorly all week long.

Clearly, his tee-to-green game is outstanding and a season-long ranking of 57th for driving accuracy puts him well within the top third on Tour. It's also worth marking up slightly, as he had more measured rounds than anyone else on the list and played some extremely tight layouts.

Look back to this event last year, and you'll see that Kim sat third at halfway before understandably struggling at the weekend as he got used to playing at this level. What's particularly interesting about his performance over those first two rounds is that he hit 27 of 28 fairways and made not a single bogey which, around here, is truly amazing.

Kim also went on to contend at the Sony Open, ticking the box for form at a correlating course, and the Wyndham at Sedgefield wouldn't be the worst comparison either given the tree-lined nature of that old-fashioned layout.

My sole concern is that Kim played poorly in the WGC-HSBC Champions but that's one blip and it came after a break, while he also came home in 32 on Sunday to show that perhaps he just needed time to adjust to playing in exalted company for such a hefty prize fund having done so only rarely to date.

Now back on the PGA Tour, he's ready to kick on and confirm his status as one of the brightest talents in the world.

Finally, Fabian Gomez has to go in at three-figure prices.

The Argentine will love playing in the subtropical conditions of Mexico and his two wins on the PGA Tour have come at Waialae and Southwind, while he also has a top-10 finish at Sea Island.

Gomez was 23rd here on his last visit in 2014, a year prior to the first of his victories, and the congested nature of the leaderboard meant three bogeys over the closing four holes cost him a potential top-10.

The 38-year-old returns a much-improved player, one who bagged a top-five finish on a long golf course in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and is considered far more likely to win than anyone around him in the betting.

More games: friv

Report: World No. 1 Jason Day to sign apparel deal with Nike

Though Nike is officially out of the golf club business, company officials appear to be serious when they say they’re looking to increase their tour presence to promote their shoe and apparel business. The company's first target appears to be Jason Day. According to an ESPN.com report, it has a deal in the works with Nike.

Day would wear Nike's hat and shoes in the deal while continuing to play TaylorMade equipment, which he has played since joining on the PGA Tour. Day previously played Nike equipment and wore its shirt and hat prior to July 2006.

When contacted by Golf Digest, Nike spokeswoman Gretchen Wilhelm declined to comment on the ESPN story: "We don't comment on rumor or speculation. We're committed to being the undisputed leader in golf footwear and apparel." If that line sounds familiar, it's the same verbiage the company used when it announced it was leaving the golf equipment business yet remaining staunchly in the golf apparel and footwear business. Signing golf's current No. 1 player would mirror Nike's marketing tactics in other sports of signing the top players to endorse their apparel and footwear.

Several attempts to reach TaylorMade officials for comment went unreturned.

The apparent deal is mostly made possible due to the changing landscape of two major equipment companies. Adidas, parent company of TaylorMade, announced two months ago that is looking to sell the club-manufacturing business, opening Day up to wear another company's apparel.

ESPN's Darren Rovell reported the deal to be around $10 million, putting Day just below the endorsement money of other Nike staffers Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

Exactly when the deal can begin, however, poses another issue. If Day has in fact signed a deal with Nike, that would presumably void his current arrangement with Adidas and TaylorMade. It's conceivable that Day would be wearing Nike apparel as early as next week when he contends for his first FedEx Cup title at the Tour Championship. But it would seem odd that TaylorMade and specifically Adidas, would want to give up the promotional value of Day potentially winning the FedEx Cup by voiding his current contract the week before the season-ending event.

But strange, sudden and sometimes contentious equipment contract situations aren't new to golf. In 2001, it was reported that Acushnet sued then-World No. 3 David Duval for breaking his endorsement contract two years early. And in 2010, Camilo Villegas ran into trouble after he signed an equipment deal with TaylorMade and was shown wearing TaylorMade logos while technically still under contract with Cobra. Cobra sued Villegas for violating the terms of his contract. Even McIlroy was caught in the middle of a lawsuit between his first apparel endorser Oakley and Nike before the two sides settled in 2013.

Of course, Day isn't the only hot commodity in TaylorMade's stable. The company is likely having to figure out how to pay both the current U.S. Open champion (and potential FedEx Cup champ) Dustin Johnson, as well as Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose. Perhaps a Day-Nike deal saves TaylorMade some marketing dollars while still keeping him part of the brand.

As PXG's Bob Parsons said just days after Nike's decision to exit the golf equipment business, the greatest effect will be on tour endorsement contracts. “It will be interesting to see who’s wearing what hats next season,” he told Golf Digest. We might not have to wait for next season after all.

additional reporting by E. Michael Johnson and Mike Stachura.

Jason Day seizes on rivals’ mishaps to set up US PGA defence

From golf’s turmoil comes opportunity. Whereas the struggles of Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy could not have been foreseen in the opening round of this, the 98th US PGA Championship, that they transpired opened the door for others.

Chief among them is Jason Day, whose 68 was even more impressive given he had not set eyes on Baltusrol until 24 hours earlier. The world No1 reached 17 greens in regulation, a career high for his major championship rounds. The holing of only two putts from outside six foot emphasised just how low scoring the Australian’s start could have been. At three off the lead Day is ideally placed to defend successfully the title he claimed at Whistling Straits a year ago.

“I’m very excited about how I hit it today,” Day said. “I hit a lot of good quality shots. It hasn’t been like that lately so to be able to go out there and hit it exactly where I’m going, see the shot and what I need to do and actually execute it was exciting for me. It was really positive stuff going into the next three rounds.”

Ah, those next three rounds. Whenever they may begin and end. There is a serious threat all three will be disrupted by bad weather, with storms forecast to hit this leafy corner of New Jersey from early on Friday morning. Thunder is again predicted, albeit less strongly, on Saturday and Sunday. Should this transpire, the possibility of a Monday finish – as happened when Phil Mickelson won the US PGA here in 2005 – is live. The elements have had a freakish habit of playing havoc with majors in recent times.

If Day leaps out from the first-day leaderboard, he is not the only name worthy of attention. Jimmy Walker heads proceedings, courtesy of a 65 which arrived like a bolt from the blue in the context of his season’s results. Emiliano Grillo and Ross Fisher are one stroke further back with Andy Sullivan among those on minus three.

These totals were posted on Thursday morning. In the afternoon Martin Kaymer profited more than any other player thanks to a 66. The German, who won the US PGA in 2010, thereby defied not only the draw but crazily long pre-tournament odds of 66-1 by scoring back-to-back nines of 33 – crazy, that is, in respect of Kaymer’s ability.

Bookmakers are more fearful of Henrik Stenson, as a golfer who deals in profitable streaks. The Swede proved as much once again in his first outing since lifting the Claret Jug in inspired fashion at Royal Troon. Stenson is three under after an 18th-hole birdie.

Rickie Fowler’s 68 was timely given a strangely poor year in majors so far. Brooks Koepka, who continues to play through an ankle injury in an attempt to propel himself into the United States Ryder Cup team, matched that score. This was Koepka’s first full round in five weeks.

“I wouldn’t have played if it wasn’t a major,” admitted Koepka. “The ankle is taped up, I have a brace on it so by the 4th hole I could feel it. That’s kind of the real issue, the taping is really irritating.”

That annoyance was shared by others, if for different reasons. McIlroy has never quite offered convincing 2016 evidence that his putting is of the standard required to capitalise on routinely excellent work from tee to green as much as should be the case. Likewise, the Northern Irishman is not saved from trouble when putter is in hand. The two issues combined for McIlroy’s 74.

Dustin Johnson, of whom similarly lofty things were expected, was six over par by the time he took to the 12th tee. Two double bogeys and a ball blasted no further than the face of a fairway bunker had played their part in that. Johnson later played the 18th like a 12-handicapper, sealing a 77.

Jordan Spieth, even a day after his 23rd birthday, continues to look like a man at odds with the world. His level-par 70 was hardly a disaster given high afternoon scoring but so far there is little sign that the Texan can soon again reach the epic heights of 2015. Still, there is nothing wrong with Spieth’s determination; he offset a double bogey at the 7th with two birdies in the closing three holes.

The vagaries of the course were spelled out by Padraig Harrington. “It was like two different people did the setup,” said the 2008 champion. “The front nine had the easiest pin positions I’d ever seen in a major. Much tighter pins on the back nine. Still, you would love to play here every day of the week.”

If the heavens duly open, Harrington and co may have no choice.

Here's why Jason Day will consider retiring around the age of 40

Longevity in sports has always been a goal of most athletes; often, players stay too long (cough cough Kobe cough). However, golfers are continually among those who don't mind discussing when they might hang up the sticks. In January, Bubba Watson reaffirmed that he'd retire if he won 10 times on tour (which he already achieved by winning the Northern Trust Open in February) or the No. 1 spot in the world rankings.

Jason Day is the latest golfer to address when he sees himself riding into the sunset.

"When I get to 40, I'm going to re-evaluate everything and go from there," Day said Wednesday at media day for the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club, where he'll be the defending champion at the end of July.

"Because when I get to 40, I would like to see where I'm at in my career because I might want to go, 'You know what, I'm done. I'm just happy with everything,' and I'm going to go off my merry way and I'll probably never pick up a golf club ever again."

Day was clear to hedge that with the condition his body is in when he turns 40 -- and how his family life looks.

"But it also depends on if [son] Dash is playing, if [daughter] Lucy is playing, if I'm still competitive and my body's great, because I'm just trying to extend," he added. "What I'm doing with my body and with my golf game, I'm trying to extend the longevity of my career."

With the injuries that have plagued Day to this point, the 28-year-old has looked fragile at times. But the World No. 1 golfer addressed his fitness saying he's "one year away from being in the best shape of my life."

Still, some figures in golf have doubts about his longevity. One of those is Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee, who said in an interview with Golf Digest this week that he believes Day's career might be shorter than others in golf because of the stress his swing puts on his body.

"Jason Day is 28 years old and has already shown problems with his back," Chamblee said. "So as people like to say Jason Day has a great golf swing, and it is no question it’s powerful and on plane and all of these things that are amazing. It is still, in my opinion, too short, and the transition is too quick, and there’s so much resistance with the upper body, which will cause him to have a shorter career than he otherwise would."

We'll see if that holds true for Day -- or if he steps away from the game on his own terms in 10 years or so.

Jason Day: old soul breaking new ground

Jason Day has always been something of an old soul.

He lost his father, who had been abusive, to cancer at the age of 12. He has admitted starting to drink alcohol not long after that, a wild boy with no direction or discipline, running with the wrong crowd.

Day had few girlfriends before he married his wife, Ellie, when he was 22, and they already have two kids. And Day is all of 28 years old.

An old soul.

And it seems as if that emotional and mental maturity that his closest rivals are still lacking is what has put Day far out in front of them over an extraordinary stretch in which the Aussie has won seven times in 17 starts in 10 months, the latest coming in golf’s “fifth major,” The Players Championship.

“Tiger-esque,” Adam Scott called this run, and it’s hard to argue with that.

Indeed, if there is anyone who scrambles like Tiger, putts like Tiger, carries himself with the cock-sure confidence of Tiger, it’s Day. Day's build, his walk, his aura – as he strides down the fairway, do you get flashbacks to the Tiger of 2000? I do.

That Day is the top player in the game who has most tried to personally connect with Woods, and Woods has deemed him worthy of such mentoring, probably says a lot. It says something, too, about Day’s willingness to listen and learn.

“I just think it’s fantastic how he’s playing, how he’s handing himself, how focused he is and how committed he is to improving,” Woods said during the Quicken Loans media day this week. “You see a lot of guys just come out here and play just for playing sake. He practices with a purpose and you can see it when he plays.”

In some ways -- and this is where the old soul comes in -- there is a sense that Day believes he is playing on borrowed time. He’s had a number of injuries for such a young player, and even his bouts with vertigo must give him a sense of vulnerability. When will it come out of the blue again?

Like Woods, he swings violently at the ball, which may not be good for his long-term physical prospects.

At The Players Championship, Day admitted that he already has begun analyzing the criteria for getting into the World Golf Hall of Fame. It’s as if that awareness is now fueling him, when it might cripple others.

“I look at that 10 PGA Tour wins, and I say to myself, that’s not enough,” Day said on Sunday. “It’s just 10. I want more than 10.

“That number is not a lot. I look at Tiger and he’s 79 (wins), and Phil is up there (with 42 wins), and I’m, like, ‘OK, I want to be able to be looked back on and know that he was of the greats of the game.’ … And I have the opportunity to do that right now, try to work as hard as I can to really leave my footprint on this game that has given me so much.

“I’m motivated to be No. 1. I’m motivated to extend that lead. I’m motivated to win as much as I can right now.”

Right now, it appears those closet to chasing Day are a little psyched out by the challenge.

World No. 2 Jordan Spieth missed The Players cut in his first start since his Masters collapse and admitted that he is getting too frustrated with himself on the course. Some of that might be attributed to the pressure he’s feeling to catch Day, who he played side-by-side with as the Aussie set the 36-hole scoring record in The Players.

Jason Day's recent hot streak of wins 'bothers' Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth has been lapped by Jason Day in the World Golf Rankings, and he's not real excited about it.

The gap in Nos. 1 and 2 in the Official World Golf Rankings is widening and not in the direction Jordan Spieth wants. Jason Day extended his OWGR points lead over Spieth with a win at The Players Championship last week and now has a commanding hold on the No. 1 spot in the world.

Here's a look:

Spieth said this week at the AT&T Byron Nelson that he's not pleased about that but he's also inspired.

"I think I can win the next two events and I'm still not going to surpass him in the World Rankings," said Spieth. "He's separated himself and that bothers me and it motivates me. So, I would like [feeding off his success] to be the case."

"He's playing his game," said Spieth. "He believes his game is better than anybody else's, and he's on his game so it is better than everyone else's. I'm also motivated by what can do, what Phil Mickelson can do, these guys that have won four and Phil won five majors. That are currently still playing very solid golf. Ernie is playing well.These guys who are legends now and future legends of the game. I can be inspired by all of them. Jason's most recent win is inspiring, too."

Day said on Sunday he never necessarily expected to be this good.

"I think a lot of it had to do with belief," said Day. "I always talk to [caddie] Col, and Col would say, 'a lot of people think you have so much talent and think you're going to be a great player one day.' I just could never believe it. I never had that belief in me to really think that about."

Now he does which is why he's extending that world rankings lead. This summer will be fascinating for several reasons. The chief of which will be to see if Jordan Spieth or Rory McIlroy (or someone else?) can catch him.

Jason Day, Working Tirelessly to Stay No. 1, Preps for RBC Heritage

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- The one thing I like most of all about Jason Day is that he can't wait to see just how good he can get at this game called golf.

He is pretty good, obviously. He is ranked No. 1 in the world and if you think about it, Day could have already pulled away from the world with a little better luck.

You know about his PGA Championship win and his record-setting 20-under-par score. You recall how he continued his spree by winning two of the FedEx Cup events, the Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, and how he picked up in March where he left off with a victory at Bay Hill and then the Dell World Match Play.

Think about this. Suppose he doesn't suffer a vertigo attack at Chambers Bay? Maybe he brings home that U.S. Open, not Jordan Spieth. Suppose he makes that birdie putt on the final green at St. Andrews and gets in a four-man playoff? Maybe he snags the claret jug, not Zach Johnson. Last week in Augusta, he would have been going for, what, the JasonSlam?

That's just what-if stuff. Old sports saying: What could have happened did.

So while we were slathering last year over Spieth, who kicked away the U.S. Open by making an unthinkable double bogey on a par 3 late in the round (sound familiar?) but won anyway when Dustin Johnson couldn't two-putt the final green, and who fumbled the British Open by following a gigantic 16th-hole birdie putt with two awful drives and a bogey-par finish when he needed two pars, maybe we should have been doting on Day.

It should make you realize that while we've got the supposed Big Three to dote on, Day looks more and more like the one who's going to break out of that pack. Or maybe already has and we just aren't paying attention.

We'll play attention this week. Day is the only one of the top 13 players in the world who will tee it up at Harbour Town. This is supposed to be golf's version of spring break, a sort of working man's vacation a few days after the windswept ordeal that was the Masters Tournament.

Day is here to win, he hopes. He's a big-picture guy with a big goal. He isn't satisfied with winning, he wants to be like his texting pal, Tiger Woods, and be in a class by himself. In Ron Burgundy terms, he wants to be kind of a big deal… if he already isn't.

There's no conceit in this. Day has the talent to do it. We're just now realizing that his short game and his putting look equal to Spieth. His ballstriking is better. He has so much upside, it hurts to think about it. So while this week maybe isn't the tournament featuring the course best-suited to him—narrow-ish fairways, tiny greens—it tells you about his desire that he is playing at all. He likes being No. 1, he wants to make sure he earns it and keeps it. It's good to be king.

"It's huge being number one in the world, I'm just trying to get better each and every week," he said. "The biggest thing is just trying to extend that gap between one and two.

"If you want to become a dominant player, you have to be consistent but you also have to consistently win. After showing that over the last half of last year and early this year, I want to make sure I keep up that level of play."

Jason Day, after finishing T10 at the Masters, tees it up at the RBC Heritage this week.

The telling part is, "if you want to become a dominant player," …Who else in golf has that as a goal? Rory, maybe? He's got four major championships, that's not unrealistic. Spieth? He chased the Grand Slam last year and if his ballstriking improves, it might be possible. Spieth is focused on winning now. Day is chasing a dream that's bigger than being a winner, he wants to be The Dominant Golfer. He wants to be big. Aim high, there's nothing wrong with that.

What will it take to dominate? Everything. That's why Day does fitness every day. Wednesday, he got up at 5 a.m. for a 7 a.m. pro-am tee time. He had breakfast, then did his normal warmup routine. In the afternoon, he sees a therapist for soft-tissue work.

"It's a daily routine now, it's part of my life and I have to keep it that way because if I don't, you'll see me having more withdrawals," Day said. "If something gets tight in my body—my back, my thoracic, my hips or even my hamstring then other things start tightening up and that's when my back can go out."

Day is like a baseball pitcher who throws a 98-mph fastball and because of that stress, has to be more careful about his arm. Day swings hard, as hard as anyone in the game, and hits it as far as anyone in the game. He's had back issues before, he'll have them again. But he's putting in the work to minimize that. Day is careful about his nutrition, too. He wants a long career. That's what you have to do to dominate.

He is close to his goal. Day is 28. He has already had seven top-five finishes in the majors. He was 10th at the Masters last week but he's finished second and third there. He's got a pair of seconds, a fourth and a ninth at the U.S. Open. He was fourth at the Open last year, and he's finished eighth and 10th at the PGA in addition to his victory.

When David Duval was still trying to break through for his first win in the ‘90s, he noted that all his close calls were seen as detriments to his resume because he hadn't won yet. As soon as he broke through and won, Duval said, everyone will be saying, Yeah, and he's had all these close calls, too. They would become positives.

Duval was right then and the same applies to Day.

He is No. 1 by a small margin over Spieth, and a reasonable margin over McIlroy.

This week, he is the best player in the field. If that's not a reason to watch, I don't know what is.

Jason Day moves to second in world golf rankings

Jason Day has edged back ahead of Rory McIlroy to take second place in the world rankings, courtesy of a tie for 11th place in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

McIlroy moved up to second ahead of the Australian at the start of the month, but after kicking off his season with two tournaments in the Gulf, the Irishman was inactive last week.

Still atop the rankings is young American Jordan Spieth, who is almost two points clear of Day and he looks likely to stay there until the first of the year's majors, the Masters, at the start of April.

The only other change to the top 10 sees South African Branden Grace, who won in Qatar at the end of January, ease ahead of US veteran Jim Furyk for 10th place.

Australia's Adam Scott is ranked in 19th position.

Jason Day and Adam Scott are being chased to tee off in big Gold Coast tournament

THE Australian PGA Championship could boast all of the nation’s big guns when it is staged on the Gold Coast in December.

It has been confirmed that this year’s PGA will be played from December 1 to 4 at Royal Pines Resort and there is every chance that local superstars Jason Day and Adam Scott could be teeing off.

A repositioning of the PGA on the international roster means the event now has a prime position. At this stage, and amid whispers that the Masters will not be played this year, the Australian schedule looks like being the Australian Open (Royal Sydney) at dates to be confirmed, the World Cup (Kingston Heath) November 24 to 27, then the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines Resort from ­December 1 to 4.

The fact the World Cup, won by Day and Scott in 2013, is scheduled for the week before the PGA could carry major bonuses for the Gold Coast, according to PGA of Australia chief Brian Thorburn.

“We have far more favourable dates for the PGA this year,” Thorburn said.

“Hosting tournaments of the calibre of the World Cup and Australian PGA Championship in back-to-back weeks is a real coup for Aussie golf fans as the fields assembled for each tournament will be some of the best seen in Australia in recent times.”

Last year the PGA was hit by the absence of Day, Scott, Marc Leishman, Steve Bowditch and Open winner Matt Jones.

Bowditch and Leishman played the Nedlands Masters in South Africa, Scott in Tiger Woods’ Hero Challenge in the Bahamas while Day stayed in America for the birth of his second child.

The tournament suffered quality-wise as a result.

“There were unique circumstances last year that affected a number of the players,” Thorburn said.

“This year we won’t be up against the Nedbank because it has moved on the schedule.

“So we have a far more favourable date against international tournaments as well as the advantage of being after the World Cup.

“We’re doing everything we can to persuade Jason, Adam, Marc, Steve, Matt Jones – as many as we can get – to play at Royal Pines.”

Scott played in the first two PGAs at Royal Pines, winning the first in 2013, then finishing runner-up, beaten in a seven-hole playoff by Greg Chalmers the next year. The PGA was worth $1.75 million last year and will again be co-sanctioned by the Australasian and European PGA Tours.

The PGA will also benefit from its position at the beginning of the European Tour’s 2017 schedule with players hoping to kick-start their season Down Under.

“While players always enjoy the sights of the Gold Coast, on the course it’s serious business with European Tour players hoping to get an early boost on the Race to Dubai and Aussie players looking to earn a ticket on to one of the biggest tours in the world,” added Thorburn.