Jason Day Intends To Get Back To The Painfully Slow Play That Made Him Great

It's comforting that no matter how much you question any petty self-indulgences you can look to Jason Day for reassurance. Because whatever narcissistic traits you think you might have, Day's going to outdo them!

A man who has held up play both with his painful form of self-indulgent slow play and regular injury situations has declared he intends to indulge us in more slow play.

Ben Everill at PGATour.com shares the warped logic that the world No. 1 shared during his first press session post Nike-$igning.

“I think there were a couple things that I didn't do as well the second half in the season. I wasn't as deliberate going into a golf shot. Gathering the information, I wasn't as deliberate,” Day said as he looks to make his 2017 FedExCup debut at the SBS Tournament of Champions.

Yes, the world watched you and thought, he's rushing!

“Obviously, everyone wants to speed up the game. Obviously, that's a big subject in golf, to speed up the game. But in my opinion, I don't care so much about speeding up my game. I've got to get back to what makes me good.”

And unlikable!

This is also a first, a player bragging about no getting "overly timed." Nice way to free up the John Paramor's of golf to penalize you...

“I didn’t care what people thought and I played better. But I still played fast enough, I wasn’t overly timed, and I played some good golf. I hit a lot more fairways and greens because of it.

"I just have to make sure I am deliberate but still respect other players."

Just do it (slower)!

Oh, and if you're interested in an update on his ailments, Jeff Babineau covers that and other comments from Day as he prepares to start the season in Maui.

Comments

[Easingwold]

Only by showing all the shots as they happen will the PGA tour be forced to tackle the slow play issue. But they tend to show the odd recovery and putts, to continue to ignore the problem so long as they can edit it like they do. So long as the sponsors are happy, so are they. But as an earlier poster said, it ruins the atmosphere of the event for the watching public. They need to wake up.

[Pat(another one)]

Hal, how so? Just because you say it is complete nonsense, doesn't make it so. I stated my case. I'm curious to see how the pace of play of a guy who makes a lot of money based on his image is not fair game?

[Chico]

Rule 6-7. The player must play without undue delay. Hardly a new rule! Must means it's mandatory. There have been 2 major studies in the uk as to why golf is losing popularity. The time it takes to play was no.1 in one study and no.2 in the other. Players are influenced by what they see on tv. As Life's too short quite rightly points out examinations have time limits. Golf thrives when we have exciting personalities playing exciting golf. Day, Spieth, McIlroy and Johnson are wonderful players but they fall well short of that description.

[Easingwold]

Chico, too right. Slow play might seem acceptable to some when they see Spieth and Day take eons to hit a shot. I give them some slack because of the crowds moving about, but they should know what club they might hit 30 yards before they reach the ball. Then it shouldn't take that long to decide which one of the two. As for club players like most of us here, there is no excuse for any four ball taking longer than 4 hours. All they have to do is show consideration to their fellow players, something Day apparently has forgotten after his quote this week.

[spoiling a good walk]

The slow play debate continues. Those in favor of using more time to play better, to calculate all of the factors in a shot, to grind over a putt after reading a green three ways have notoriously slow players and golf champions Jack Nicklaus, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day in their camp. Those in favor of playing as fast as possible, of not considering any factor in a shot, of guessing about the read of a green have old club players and ladies who play in less than four hours and @LifeIsTooShort in their camp.

[spoiling a good walk]

" There have been 2 major studies in the uk as to why golf is losing popularity. The time it takes to play was no.1 in one study and no.2 in the other." -Chico

Golf ALWAYS took a long time. It was invented in a time when people went on Picnics. It is not aligning with the time pressures of today. Pressuring players to run madly from one shot to the next, Is madness, and not a solution. Allowing players to choose any amount of play from 9 holes to 18 holes is one solution.

As for television and pro golf, slow play is a faux issue. They use something called editing.

[Chico]

SAGW-we'll agree to disagree on that one. How come we know Day, Spieth, Na etc are so slow if it's so well edited? Nicklaus would be a racehorse in today's game. Ever watched juniors play? Ever watched top amateurs play?

[Chico]

Oh and I'm not, and never have, advocating running between shots. I agree that would be ridiculous. All you have to do to get a 2 ball close to 3 hours and a 3 ball to 3 1/2 is to be ready when it's your turn and to hit your shots in under 40 seconds. It's not difficult. I also agree re. 9 holes- it is a solution for some. I also agree golf has never been fast- but when I learned in your "picnic" era we easily played in 3 hours- not 4 1/2. Big difference.