DORAL, Fla. — Jason Day lives for the big moments in golf and has proven he plays his best on the biggest stage.
So as he watched the climax of Sunday’s Honda Classic final round on TV — he took the week off — he had a rush almost as if he was playing.
“I know exactly how they are feeling,’’ Day said of Rory McIlroy, who blew his lead, and Russell Henley, who won in a playoff. “Sometimes you feel like you just want to curl up and run away. Some days you go out there and you feel like you can stay out there forever and play golf and it doesn’t matter what golf course is in front of you.
“It was stressful for me to watch the guys, because I know exactly what they are going through and I know they just want to get it in and finish and finish well. It’s not easy to win. You guys [reporters] have been blessed by seeing Tiger Woods win for so many years, and being No. 1 for I think 12 years now, that people in general think it’s easy to win. It’s hard. It’s not easy to go out there and just do it.
“I mean, McIlroy played flawless golf over the first three days and … PGA National is not an easy golf course. There’s a lot of water everywhere. The finish is very tough. The back nine is very, very brutal. You get any sort of wind that’s kind of swirling around and it makes it very tough.’’
Day, who has had a cluster of close calls, including at the Masters, said he and everyone else on the PGA Tour is “trying to strive to become Tiger Woods.’’
“I would love to win as many times as he is, but there’s just that human error that you have,’’ he said. “So many years we’ve watched Tiger do it so easy and hit so many clutch shots that people expect everyone on the PGA Tour should be doing that.’’
Day’s Match Play win was the second of his career and it raised not only his profile entering this week’s tournament at Doral, but his world ranking, which went from No. 11 to No. 4.
“I’ve always liked competing against the best players, which is the hardest fields in golf with a lot of people watching,’’ Day said. “For some reason, it just always gets me going. Winning the WGC event, the Match Play, moving from 11 to 4, it was one of my goals to get in the top 5 this year, and winning that event shot me to No. 4. I don’t want to stop there, but you know, I just love playing in front of a lot of people on the big stage.’’