Jason Day sees learning from his failures as key factor in his progress

World No 1 Jason Day, who missed out on being in a three-man play-off for the Open title last year, talks to the media yesterday following practice at Royal Troon (Picture: Danny Lawson/PA).

Day finished a shot outside the three-man play-off won by Zach Johnson at St Andrews last year, sparking a run which saw him win seven of his next 17 events.

This included a maiden major title and record 20-under-par total in the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, as well as victories in two FedEx Cup events which took him top of the world rankings for the first time.

However, the 28-year-old Australian arrived in Scotland on the back of a disappointing performance in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, when he led by one with four holes to play but bogeyed the 15th and double bogeyed the 16th.

“Coming so close last year was definitely a motivational factor in that I would love to one day hold the Claret Jug and be able to put my name down in history with the best that have ever lived and played the game,” Day said.

“It was the start of my run where everything kind of changed my world, really.”

Asked if he could remember another time when he had been motivated by failure, Day added without hesitation: “Two weeks ago. Yeah, that was pretty motivating.

“To be honest, we’re not going to win every single one. Even though I don’t like losing, it was great to be able to learn something from that and turn this into what I would say is a learning experience and try to move forward and get better from it.

“At the end of the day, I’m just trying to get as good as I can and the only way to do that is to learn from failure, and the way you look at it is not in a negative way.

“You have to look at it in a positive light that, okay, I did this for a reason. I’ve got to try to get better and move on. If I can do that, then you can’t do anything but go up.

“It sucked. It was really bad. I hated losing. It was a terrible way to lose, and it was frustrating and disappointing.

“But things like this, you can’t win them all, and that’s just the way of life. Like I’ve always said, we got spoiled with Tiger Woods, how he dominated and did so well.

“That’s what I’m shooting for, to be able to finish off like he did back in the day. Will I ever get to a point like that? Maybe not. But that’s what I’m shooting for right now.”

Day and Woods have become good friends in recent years, with Day eager to seek advice from the 14-time major winner, who is currently sidelined after three back operations in the space of 19 months. “When I talk to him, it’s about how mentally tough he was,” Day added. “When he didn’t have his best stuff, he would just find a way to get it done. His game plan was, ‘I just got to get this ball in the hole’.

“If it was trying to catch someone, he wanted to cut that lead down maybe one or two shots. Just cutting into that lead will show that there’s presence there.

“In the same way, if you have the lead, being able to extend that lead shows that you’re playing some pretty strong golf.”

Despite missing out on the Claret Jug last year, Day credits his experience that week at St Andrews with giving him the belief that he could win major titles after several near misses.

2015 Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth is the latest player to withdraw from competing in next month’s Olympics. The 22-year-old former world No 1 cited “concerns about health problems” as his reason for deciding against travelling to Rio de Janeiro.

Spieth joins a growing list of players who have pulled out of the competition, including Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and world No 1 Day.

Spieth’s decision means the world’s top four players have all withdrawn citing concerns over Zika, a mosquito-borne virus which has been linked to defects in newborn babies and Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome which causes temporary paralysis in adults.

IGF president Peter Dawson admitted the number of withdrawals was “disappointing” and did not paint men’s golf in a good light. So far South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace is the only female player to pull out.

“We have invested a huge amount of time and effort on player education and they’ve had no lack of opportunity, I think, to make their own well-informed decisions about what they want to do,” Dawson said.