Lacking ‘drive’ at past Presidents Cups, Jason Day more motivated in return

MONTREAL – Having missed the past two Presidents Cups, Jason Day noted a few distinct differences inside the International team room this week at Royal Montreal.

He’s also noticed a few differences within himself, too.

Day is a four-time Presidents Cup participant but, in many ways, this year, he feels like a rookie. Optimistic. Passionate. Motivated.

And that hasn’t always been the case with Day. Or his team.

“When I first started out, I was pretty gung-ho about it,” he told reporters Tuesday, “and I felt like there are some guys that just didn’t quite have the drive as much as some of the other guys. When you’re not all working toward a goal, then it hurts.

“Then you fast-forward to some of the other ones, and I didn’t have as much drive as some of the other guys – and that kind of hurts the whole team environment. You’ve got to have all the guys pushing toward that goal of trying to win the cup.”

Back in 2019, Day admitted that he sometimes checked out mentally and that he has to “do better” in the Presidents Cup. He specifically mentioned the 2015 event in Korea, when he was coming off one of his best years and still went 0-4-1 in the biennial competition. Overall, he sports a woeful 5-11-4 record.

This week, he said, “I felt like I probably could have done a little bit more.”

This will mark Day’s first chance to prove it, after being forced to miss the event at Royal Melbourne because of a back injury and, two years ago, not having good enough form to warrant a pick.

“I’m not sure the team environment was as passionate as we have now,” he said. “That kind of hurt my drive to compete because I’m like, Well, if some guys aren’t wanting to push, then why do I need to push? I think that hurts the team environment. I can’t be there saying, Hey, these guys didn’t drive, and I’m doing the exact same thing a few years later.”

Day said competing in the Olympics for the first time this summer “opened my eyes” to what it means to play for a larger purpose, for more than just himself.

“And then obviously seeing the guys and how they are,” he said of his International teammates, “that definitely opens my eyes to wanting to play as hard as I can for these guys.”