Jason Day Free of Weaknesses That Will Keep Competition Chasing Him for Years

It wasn’t long after Tiger Woods arrived at his first PGA Tour event that he began leaving both fans and competitors awestruck by his incredible power.

Spectators could often be seen climbing trees just to get a brief glimpse of one of Woods’ mammoth tee shots, while competitors were likely wishing they could somehow hide behind those same trees in order to escape the embarrassment of watching Woods’ ball fly 50 yards past theirs.

One of the most iconic venues in the game—Augusta National—was essentially forced to redesign its entire course after Woods decimated the joint back in 1997.

And many other courses around the PGA Tour, and the world for that matter, began adding significant yardage in an undertaking that would later become known as “Tiger Proofing.”

Woods’ natural power was something that had rarely, if ever, been seen before in the game of golf. So it was no surprise that the majority of attention surrounding Woods was focused on his power game.

However, distance can only carry a player so far (no pun intended) and what often gets lost in Woods’ early success is just how skillful he was in every other aspect of the game.

Woods’ iron shots were nothing short of majestic, he could get the ball up-and-down from anywhere, and he made more big putts than anyone had seen since Jack Nicklaus.

Throughout the history of the game, there have been many players who have gone on dominant runs stretching anywhere from several months to several years, but it was this complete game that allowed Woods to remain consistently dominant for more than 12 years.

There are a handful of talented young players out on tour today who possess aspects of their game that can be comparable to Woods in his prime.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

For example, Jordan Spieth’s short game and ability to make big putts when he needs them most are reminiscent of Woods’ skills on and around the greens.

Rory McIlroy’s incredibly high iron shots and ability to shift his long game into a different gear when he needs to is comparable to Woods’ power game, and perhaps in some ways even more impressive due to McIlroy’s slight stature.

But there is only one player in professional golf today who appears to have mastered virtually every single aspect of the game, and that is Jason Day.

Day is one of the longest hitters on tour, averaging just over 300 yards off the tee.

Three weeks ago, jaws could be seen hitting the turf at TPC Sawgrass as Day sent 2-irons flying over 300 yards off the tee followed by sky-high approach shots en route to his first Players Championship title.

But Day’s ability is by no means limited to the power game.

The 28-year-old native of Australia is second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained from putting, 12th in strokes gained from tee to green, eighth in sand save percentage, 10th in scrambling from inside of 30 yards and leads the PGA Tour in average distance of putts made.

These stats indicate that Day is remarkably close to having mastered every aspect of the game, much like Woods during his prime.

Combine Day’s complete game with the fact that virtually all of his top competitors suffer from at least some form of weakness within their games, and we could be looking at a player poised to embark on a dominant run that could last several years or longer.

Jordan Spieth’s weakness is distance.

He ranks 54th on tour in driving distance averaging just 293 yards off the tee  and 164th on tour in approaches from 200 to 225 yards.

Spieth is, of course, able to overcome his lack of distance with an outstanding short game and putter, but this is a weakness that has been, and will likely continue to be, exposed by longer hitters that are firing on all cylinders.

Day took advantage of Spieth’s lack of distance at the 2015 PGA Championship where four days of having to contend with Day hitting two-to-three clubs less into Whistling Straights’ difficult green complexes was too much for the 22-year-old Texan to overcome.  

Rory McIlroy, on the other hand, can stick with Day from tee to green. The four-time major champion ranks 10th on the PGA Tour in driving distance and third in strokes gained from tee to green.

But McIlroy’s troubles arise the moment he steps onto the putting surface.

McIlroy ranks an abysmal 122nd on tour in strokes gained putting and has cracked the top-50 on tour in this category just once since turning pro.

The fact that McIlroy has been able to win four major championships and 20 professional events around the world despite his troubles with the flat stick is a testament to how incredibly talented the Northern Irishman is from tee to green.

But this also makes McIlroy vulnerable to a long hitter, such as Day, who is more skillful on and around the greens. And that is precisely what happened at the 2016 Players Championship.

McIlroy outperformed Day from tee to green at TPC Sawgrass.

He averaged over 300 yards off the tee, ranked sixth for the week in driving accuracy, third in greens in regulation and second in strokes gained from tee to green.

Day was slightly longer off the tee, averaging 311 yards, but he ranked 51st in driving accuracy, 15th in GIR and was just behind McIlroy in total stroked gained from tee to green.

But the putter was the big difference-maker for Day at the Players Championship.

Day ranked 8th in strokes gained putting while McIlroy ranked 68th in the field.

During round three McIlroy hit an impressive 16 of 18 greens but needed 37 putts, including a mind-boggling five three-putts, to post a score of 75.

Day hit 14 of 18 GIR during round three but averaged just 1.73 putts per GIR and was able to post a score of 73.

This is just another example of how a player may be able to outperform Day in certain aspects of the game, but Day’s game has become so complete in recent years that it is extremely difficult for even his top competitors to outpace him over the course of 72 holes.

At this time, Day’s only real weaknesses are his propensity for injury and an inability to comfortably work the ball from left to right.

Day makes up for his inability to effectively fade the ball through towering iron shots that he can control as if they were on a string and stop on a dime from over 200 yards away.

A player’s health is one aspect of the game that is often out of their hands, but Day has clearly been taking all necessary steps from both a dietary and fitness standpoint to at least diminish the chances of additional injury occurring in the coming years.

There are players out on tour who hit the ball longer than Day, other players who are better than Day on and around the greens, and still others who may be better iron players.

But there is no one in golf today who can match Day’s complete game from the driver right on down through the putter.  

The last golfer who managed to master every aspect of the game went on to dominate his competition for more than a decade.

Now, it would be a stretch to predict that Day will somehow dominate the game in a manner even remotely close to what Woods was able to do between 1997 and 2009.

But it is by no means a stretch to predict that Day’s complete game will lead him to significantly more success over the next decade than any other player in this latest generation of bright young stars.

The top three players in the world are all entering this week’s Memorial Tournament coming off wins.

Wednesday afternoon, McIlroy, who won the Irish Open two weeks ago and is currently ranked third in the World Golf Rankings, was asked how a player would go about defeating someone like Day, who is on such an incredible run right now.

McIlroy’s response to the question was quite simple (as reported by ASAP Sports), “you just have to play better. I don't think you can rely on people to drop their standards or drop their form. You just have to go out and shoot a better score.”

While McIlroy may be correct in his assessment of the situation, going out and shooting a better score than Day over the course of 72 holes is a lot easier said than done.

Both McIlroy and Spieth have learned this lesson firsthand over the past year, and they may just get another lesson in the advantages of Day’s complete game this week at Muirfield Village.

Unless otherwise specified, all statistics for this article came from PGATour.com.