Cockiness comes home to roost

22 September 2015 - 02:01 By Reuters

Jason Day has always struggled to sleep, but the 27-year-old Australian's weekend at the BMW Championship was more restless than most. His insomnia did not stem from trying to win the tournament (he had won three in his last five starts) or maintain his place atop the lucrative FedEx Cup standings.What kept him awake was the fact that he was about to fulfil a dream - becoming golf's top-ranked player.The wire-to-wire victory helped him achieve the goal he and his coach and caddie, Colin Swatton, set when Day was still an unruly teenager in boarding school."We said we were trying to get to No1 in the world at 22. I'm five years late," Day said.He first announced his intentions to the golfing world at 18 - and it blew up in his face."I want to chase Tiger [Woods]. I'm sure I can take him down," he said.He was labelled cocky, brash and disrespectful."The next day he came in and was really upset and asked 'What did I say wrong?'" Swatton recalls. "It was a shame the way that blew up. It put a dent in his confidence and contributed to a bunch of near-misses in big events."Day won his first PGA Tour event in 2010, but failed to close the deal in several majors thereafter .From there he won the Canadian Open, his first major, the opening play-off event at the Barclays and then the BMW Championship to add to an early Farmers Insurance Open...

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