“I don’t fault anyone for going across.” – said Jason Day in 2023. You might wonder who he was talking about. Well, the Australian was alluding to Jon Rahm after he jumped to LIV Golf. He seems like an understanding guy, unlike many other PGA Tour pros, to be honest. But little did he know that it was this neutral stance that would soon churn out speculations surrounding him joining LIV as part of fellow Aussie Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC. Now, fast forward to November 2024, and all the gossip surrounding the same seems to have ended, courtesy of the golfer himself.

The 36-year-old was spotted mentioning the reason behind his staying on the PGA Tour in an interview with Code Sports Australia. “I didn’t knock it back,” said Day while hinting at the offer to join the PIF-funded circuit. Then how come he is still on the Jay Monahan-led circuit? Well, that’s where it gets interesting. Apparently, LIV Golf didn’t extend an offer to the athlete at all.

Huh… Quite surprising, to be honest. But no worries, for the pro himself, reveals the reason behind it. “What happened was, it was a business move to just go in and explore the potential of what would happen,” divulged the golfer soon after. And so he did, through Bud Martin, his agent and an Executive Vice President at Wasserman. “I said [to my agent], ‘No worries, I’m happy with where I’m at, but it’s always nice to know,’” recounted Jason Day as he looked back at his talk with Martin. “And they [LIV Golf] said, ‘We love Jason, but he’s too injured; he just gets too many injuries.’”

It sure was a cutthroat stance by the Greg Norman-led circuit. But what no one would expect was that this would soon turn out to be advantageous for the Australian. The reason? Jason Day, while staying on the PGA Tour, would soon go ahead to break his winless drought of five years by raking in a win at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson.

The then-35-year-old dished out a figure of 23-under overall 261 owing to his scores of 64-69-66-62 that he carded over the four days of play. It helped him end the winless streak that plagued him for 105 starts after his last win in 2018, which came off at the Wells Fargo Championship. And these 5 years without any victories even caused him to rethink his choice to keep playing the sport.

Playing golf ‘felt like a chore’ for Jason Day

The Queenslander was forced to withdraw from various tournaments after suffering from chronic back problems following his Wells Fargo Championship triumph. “It got to a point where I couldn’t stand in place for more than 15 minutes,” admitted Jason Day in an interview with Fox Sports’ PGA Championship Preview show in May 2024. “I was in pain a lot. Nothing was really working.”

Back in the 2019 Masters, the golfer even received cortisone injections mid-round, all thanks to his back pain that caused him much pain. He did so while going ahead to finish T5 at the same time. “It felt like a chore,” continued the athlete. “It didn’t feel enjoyable to me to play golf, not only injured but to play golf for the wrong reasons.”

By the end of the 2020 season, Jason Day realized the need for a change in his game. “I needed to make the change pretty quick,” said the pro, “in regards to not just the body stuff but also the swing as well to get me to playing where I feel like I should.” What did he do? Well, he joined hands with a new swing coach, Chris Como, helping him card his 13th PGA Tour win at the Byron Nelson. Quite a journey it has been, and he would agree as well!