Sam Torrance: Jason Day back to his best in time for fifth Major
When he is at his best, Jason Day is almost unbeatable. Following his victory at the Wells Fargo Championships on Sunday, his second win already this year on the PGA Tour, the Australian former world No1 looks back to that level.
Day endured a difficult spell last year, with injury problems and the illness of his mother contributing to a first barren season since 2012. But he started to turn it around in the final months and got his reward at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, where he ended his drought.
He has not finished worse than 22nd in his last 10 stroke play events and is now back into the world top 10.
Read more: Is the Players Championship still golf's richest tournament?
Two wins is a huge achievement and he will know that he is ready to compete for the biggest titles once again. Day is sure to be among the leading contenders at The Players Championship, an event he won in 2016, this week at Sawgrass.
The Players is one of my favourites and fully deserves its billing as the unofficial fifth Major. Like the Masters, it has an iconic, ever-present backdrop and is a tournament you look forward to watching on television. Its a great course for the golfer: the weather is always perfect and the par fives are reachable.
All of the worlds top 20 are due to be involved. Rory McIlroy will be there, having finished nine shots behind Day at Quail Hollow, largely because of a bad second round. It was a reasonable performance from the Northern Irishman but still not the winning McIlroy we know and love.
Ian Poulter has been second at TPC twice, including last year when Kim Si-woo won. Its his type of course – fairways and greens – and though the Englishman doesnt have the length he does have the accuracy.
It will also be interesting to see how Patrick Reed does, following his Masters triumph.
Addition of women lifts battle of the sixes
It was great to see how successful the integration of female players was at the latest GolfSixes event on the European Tour over the weekend.
English pair Charley Hull and Georgia Hall knocked out the defending champions, Denmarks Thorbjorn Olesen and Lucas Bjerregaard, and reached the quarter-finals, only losing to the eventual winners, Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan of Ireland.
The European Womens team, comprising of Englands Mel Reid and Spains Carlota Ciganda, also reached the last eight of the short-format competition.
Charley Hull and Georgia Hall knocked out the defending champions (Source: Getty)
The female players proved a great addition to the innovative event and will have opened up a lot of peoples eyes to how good they are.
Hopefully their fantastic performances will lead to more sponsors backing womens golf, because it needs it.
In the end the Irish were too good for everyone, beating France in the final.
Dunne has had more success so far in his career but Moynihan played great over the two days and I hope this spurs him on to more.
Well done to them, and the European Tour for staging a great, innovative event.
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