JASON DAY does not accept he is the hot favourite for the Masters. He is perfectly open, however, about his desire to dominate golf the way Tiger Woods once did and leave the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth trailing in his wake.
The Australian, who won his first major in the form of the US PGA Championship last August, took over from Spieth as world number one in March following back-to-back wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Match Play.
His form has seen him installed as strong favourite by the bookmakers to emerge victorious at Augusta and, although he expects four days of intense competition when the action gets underway tomorrow, his intentions are clear.
"If you win the big ones, you can extend the gap between being number one and number two in the world," he said. "That's kind of the focus right now, trying to extend the gap.
“There was a point when Tiger was dominating so much that I think he could give up the game of golf for a certain period of time and he'd still be number one.
"To be honest, I don't think I'm the favourite this week.
"As you know, there's a lot of people out there that can play well this week and win.
“I want the best playing against the best and fighting it out. If I end up not wearing the green jacket at the end of Sunday, but I have a fantastic competitive match against the best players in the world, that's what I'm there for. Our generation is so competitive, and we enjoy and thrive off that.
“I would enjoy a Spieth-McIlroy-Fowler-Scott-Watson-Mickelson Sunday. That would be a lot of fun."
David Duval, a former world number one, believes Day is a player making serious improvement, though, thanks to making some essential tweaks to his game.
“He is clearly the best player in the world right now,” said Duval in an interview with The Golf Channel last night. “You watch him hit golf balls now. There has almost become a discernible pause at the top of his swing, where you can see that transition getting better and better.
“If he does that, there is nobody who is going to beat him. He is that good.”
Day is making his sixth appearance in the Masters having finished in the top three twice and taken the honour of being a joint runner-up behind Charl Schwartzel in 2011. He briefly considered quitting after that disappointment.
Augusta is certainly a course that can take you on emotional rollercoasters and Day admits past experience will be important.
"I've got to understand that, for the first few years, I just enjoyed myself,” he remarked. “It's something I've always wanted to play in as a young kid.
"As time went on, everyone would keep on asking me: ‘When are you going to win it?’
"I guess I thought: 'Okay, I've got to kind of force it this year' and that's when I started missing stuff, making mistakes and mental errors.”
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