After a tumultuous year that has had its fair share of distractions, Jason Day is ready to turn his attention back to golf.
Day: Needs a good performance this week
Day injured his left ankle the week before the Masters and eventually had to withdraw during the second round at Augusta. Then in July the Australian pulled out of the British Open to be with his wife for the birth of their first child.
Inbetween those two majors he missed the cut in the year's other two big ones and seemed to be a player that did not have his head fully in the game - in stark contrast to 2011 when he rocketed up the rankings courtesy of a string of top-10 finishes and solid major performances.
Day fully admits that this year has been the toughest one of his career to date.
"Sometimes you just lose focus," said the 24-year-old, "and your priorities are someplace else."
But his focus is back, says Day, and after sneaking into the FedEx Cup play-offs in 107th place and finding himself in serious danger of missing the Top-100 cut-off for the next tournament due to a couple of poor rounds at
the Barclays, Day produced a stunning final-round 66 to vault into a tie for 24th and secure a place in this week's Deutsche Bank Championship.
"I made that very tough on myself Saturday," Day said, "but it was nice to come out and play well on Sunday."
The FedEx play-offs working as it does, with the field getting cut further and further every week, Day is still not in a safe place, and needs another strong showing this week - probably a top-20 finish, to make it through to the next event, the BMW Championship.
"I think when my back is against the wall, I feel like I play the best," Day said. "For some reason, that's just how I've always been.
"Right now I'm pretty high on the FedExCup (88th in points), but the good thing about the Playoffs is that if you play well, you can move a lot. That's what's so exciting about the Playoffs."
golf365.com