Jason Day switched his focus from money to trophies and it is paying dividends.
The 26-year-old, whose first golf club was scavenged from the tip by his father, says finally letting go of his poor background has catapulted him to two wins in his past six starts.
Day had the biggest win of his life on Sunday by claiming the WGC-Match Play Championship, netting $A1.7 million in prizemoney, but says it took forgetting about the cash to get it done.
“I came from a very poor family so winning money was on my mind when I first came out on the PGA Tour,” Queenslander Day revealed.
“It was about the money. I wanted to play for money, because I’d never had it before.
“But I finally realised winning takes care of everything and it’s not about the money anymore.
“I just want to play golf – golf that I love, and win trophies.”
The man who knows Day best says the sky is the limit now the new world No.4 knows what it takes to win against the best.
Day’s coach and caddie Col Swatton, who took Day from precocious teenager to world star, says dedication to hard work is finally paying dividends and, as long as he continues it, more triumphs will come.
“There is a difference between saying you want to be the best in the world and being prepared to do all the work and everything it takes to be the number one player in the world and I think Jason knows that,” Swatton said.
“I think at the end of the day this win will only help him.
“I’ve known Jason for a long time and once he gets a sniff and he gets that confidence bar up to this point, well I think its going to be ‘on’ now.
“I expect he’s going to be more motivated, wanting to work harder to keep winning.”