Johnson confident this Players Championship will be different

Sterling play has been a challenge for Dustin Johnson at The Players Championship, but the American world number one is hoping this week's tournament will be more indicative of his recent success.

"I think my game as a whole has gotten a lot better," Johnson, whose previous best finish in eight starts at The Players has been a tie for 28th, told a news conference in Ponte Vedra, Florida on Wednesday.

Three victories and a tie for second in his last four starts have given the big hitter plenty of confidence, but he admitted TPC Sawgrass, where accuracy off the tee is often more important than length, will be a challenge.

"I haven't had a lot of success around here, so it's definitely a challenge for me," Johnson said. "But I feel like if I'm going to play well here, this is the time.

"Everything throughout my whole game is in really good form right now."

Johnson rebounded from an unlucky fall that ruled him out of the Masters to tie for second in last week's Wells Fargo Championship, coming on strong over the last 36 holes after barely making the halfway cut.

His confidence -- and game -- are continuing to improve, Johnson said, as he prepares to face Masters winner Sergio Garcia, newlywed Rory McIlroy and defending champion Jason Day.

"I played a lot better on the weekend," Johnson said. "I've had a couple good practice days the last two days, so I'm excited to get the tournament started."

But Johnson, who has only broken 70 twice in 26 rounds at TPC Sawgrass, knows the Florida layout can challenge the best.

While a couple of holes have been lengthened since last year, the course still favours precision over power, especially when conditions are firm, as they were on tournament eve.

"This golf course is tough," he said. "You've got to have all facets of your game working if you want to contend around here.

"You've got to be doing everything well because you've got to hit all kinds of different shots, every club in your bag, and you've got to really control your golf ball."

(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Andrew Both)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Day wrestles with pressures in quest to get back on top

Defending Players champion Jason Day said on Tuesday that life at the top in golf was great, but the pressures and demands of the game could be "suffocating".

Day, who has been struggling to cope with his mother's life-threatening illness, has not won since last year at Florida's TPC Sawgrass.

The world number three won The Players, generally regarded as the unofficial 'fifth' major, last year wire-to-wire after firing a course record-tying 63 in the first round.

The year before, he achieved a career goal with a run that included his maiden major at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits before adding two FedExCup tournament wins the next month to become world number one.

Since then, the Australian has grappled with how to find a balance between the demands that come with being at the top of the game and life away from the course.

"I could sense that being No. 1 and all that stuff was getting pretty hard mentally more so than physically, just the mental demand on you, the expectations. And it's very, very easy to get burnt out in a sense," the 29-year-old told reporters.

"As you go through your career, priorities kind of change back and forth and with what had happened earlier this year with some off-course stuff, my mind was kind of elsewhere, as you probably could imagine."

Early this year, Day was rocked by the news that his mother, Dening, was fighting lung cancer.

Now he is talking about "rebuilding to try and get back to the top of the world."

"That's what I'm trying to focus on, getting back to that winning form, getting back to the workload that I was doing and the practice and the work ethic, and hopefully the results will come after that."

Day said satisfying obligations with the media, fans and sponsors as number one weighed heavily on him and that if he was to get back on top he would do things differently, adding that he might have to say 'No' more often.

"I think with me, I've got to make it's as less stressful as possible. Make sure that when hopefully one day I get back, that I take that load of stress off my shoulders so I can just go out there and focus on golf," added Day, who trails Dustin Johnson and number two Rory McIlroy in the rankings.

"I'm a person that can't do four million things at once, and that's what it feels like when you're at the top ... it just feels like you're getting pulled in all sorts of directions and it feels like you're suffocating sometimes."

Despite the pressures, Day said getting back to number one was his top professional priority.

"I would do anything in the world to get back there," he said. "There's no other, no better feeling than being the best."

(Writing by Larry Fine in New York; Editing by Peter Rutherford)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Day moves three ahead at weather-hit Sawgrass

Jason Day extended his overnight lead to three shots after 14 holes in the Players Championship second round on Friday before play was suspended for the day in fading light at the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The Australian world number one again took advantage of a receptive Stadium Course with very little rough and barely a breath of wind, recording birdies at the second, fourth, seventh, 13th and 14th to get to get to 14 under overall.

That put him three ahead of Ireland's Shane Lowry, who was the leader in the clubhouse at 11-under 133 after shooting a 68 that included an albatross two at the par-four 18th, where he holed out with a wedge from 120 yards in the fairway.

"It's not fun stopping and starting," Day told Golf Channel after his round was disrupted for just over two hours due to the threat of lightning when he had completed just eight holes.

"I came back out not as sharp as I was this morning."

Out in three-under 33, Day picked up further shots at the par-three 13th, where he drained a 40-foot putt, and at the par-four 14th, where his approach settled within three feet of the cup, to strengthen his grip at the top.

"I feel good about my game but the biggest thing for me is to focus on trying to extend the lead," said the 28-year-old, who has long coveted a first Players title to add to his already impressive golfing resume.

"The moment that I lose a little bit of focus and make a few mental errors and mistakes, that's when I let the field back in."

Jonas Blixt of Sweden (67), Germany's Alex Cejka (67) and American Cameron Tringale (69) were at 10 under while American Colt Knost and Rory McIlroy made the biggest moves of the day to finish at nine and eight under respectively.

Just 24 hours after Day became the fifth player to fire a record-low 63 at the event widely regarded as the most prestigious outside the four majors, American Knost followed suit with a 10-birdie display.

Knost had a chance to card a 62 and make history, but three-putted from long range on his final hole, the par-four 18th, for his only bogey.

Soon after, McIlroy was in good position to at least match Knost with a 63 as he teed off on his last hole, the par-five ninth, at nine under for the day but he wound up with a bogey to settle for a 64.

"I don't feel like I played that much differently today than I did yesterday but it's an eight-shot difference," McIlroy said. "I'm in a good position even though I finished a little bit frustratingly, but these things happen."

The cut was projected to fall at two-under 142 with defending champion Rickie Fowler (71) and world number two Jordan Spieth, also at one under after 14 holes, likely to miss out.

The second round will be completed on Saturday morning local time, with the third round to follow soon afterwards. (Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Andrew Both)

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