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Are Jason Day's chronic back problems career threatening?

Jason Day (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Expert
14th March, 2017
6

Jason Day will test his back after a three-week break when he tees off tomorrow as the defending champion at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

It will be an emotional week as the first since the legend and host died in September last year, just before the Ryder Cup, aged 87.

But The King, who inspired an army, will forever be present at Bay Hill, with a 13-foot statue overlooking the first and 10th tees unveiled last week.

Day will be the highest ranked in the field, where only half the top 20 will be on duty.

Day (2), Rory McIlroy (3), Hideki Matsuyama (3), Henrik Stenson (4), Rickie Fowler (9), Justin Rose (13), Danny Willett (14), Paul Casey (15), Bubba Watson (17), and Brenden Grace (19) will tee off.

But the newly crowned No.1, Dustin Johnson, will be missing, along with Jordan Spieth (6), Justin Thomas (7), Adam Scott (8), Sergio Garcia (10), Alex Noren (11), Patrick Reed (12), Tyrell Hatton (16), Phil Mickelson (18), and Matt Kuchar (20).

The Australians on duty, apart from Day, are the struggling Steve Bowditch, Aaron Baddeley, Greg Chalmers, Marc Leishman, Geoff Ogilvy, Rod Pampling, and Cameron Smith.

But 29-year-old Day will be the centre of attention.

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He has joined an illustrious group who have been plagued with back problems, headed by Freddie Couples, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Louis Oosthuizen

Couples managed to keep his back in cotton wool and is still going strong on the Champions Tour aged 57. But there’s no doubt he would have been even more successful had his back been stronger.

It’s fair to assume Woods’ back has ended his career at age 40, while both McIlroy and Oosthuizen had to make radical swing changes to prolong their careers.

There’s a newcomer to the bad back brigade: 24-year-old Patrick Cantlay.

Five years ago he was the world’s number one amateur, ahead of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, for a then-record 55 weeks.

With a glittering pro career about to launch, his back was so bad he wasn’t even allowed to pick up a putter for four years.

Last week at the Valspar, in only his second pro start, Cantlay had a ding-dong battle with Canadian Adam Hadwin down the final stretch to lose by a shot on the final hole.

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Both were seeking their first USPGA success, beating Henrik Stenson, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson, Jim Furyk, and defending champion Charl Schwartzel in the process.

We’ll hear a lot more about the very talented Patrick Cantlay sooner than later.

But a Jason Day success story this week is on top of the wish list.

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