Jason Day looking to stay ahead of McIlroy and Spieth at Tour Championship
Thursday 24 September 2015 16:43, UK
Jason Day is determined to enjoy an extended stay at the top of the world rankings after reaching the summit following last week's win at the BMW Championship.
Day is bidding for a fifth victory in his last seven starts at this week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, and he is a heavy favourite to land the lucrative $10m bonus as FedExCup champion having won two of the first three play-off events.
The 27-year-old is 101 under par for his last seven events, including a major championship record of 20 under in winning the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. However, with the top three of Day, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth separated by less than one ranking point, the Australian knows he will need to keep winning to stay ahead of the chasing pack.
"I know I have put the work in and have done so much to get to where I am, but to be honest it doesn't feel like much," Day said of his ranking ahead of the PGA Tour's season finale at East Lake. "It's not like that one big shining moment or one big sense of relief that I've done it now.
"It makes me a lot more hungrier to try and keep my position at No 1 because I want to try and extend it, but I am still the same guy as I was the week before I won and got to No 1. I still feel the same.
"It's great to see my name up there, it's pretty cool to be the best player on the planet, but I understand that to be the best you have to win consistently so whatever I am doing right now, I need to keep doing that because that's my blueprint that has been working."
Any of the 29 players in the field in Atlanta - Jim Furyk has withdrawn with a wrist injury - can win the $10m bonus for lifting the overall FedEx Cup title, but only the top five are assured of doing so by winning at East Lake.
Day, who could theoretically finish 28th and still claim the bonus, said: "I wish it was the old format where I could cruise to a FedEx Cup win, that would have been nice. But now obviously the top five do control their destiny.
"Being No 1 does give me a better chance if I don't win the tournament but I am just trying to get to my eighth [career] win now. When I look at wins I've had, to me personally it feels low.
"That's what my mentality is with wins, I can't stop chasing them. I have to try and get as many as I can before my career is done and this week is a perfect opportunity to add to it because it is a smaller field."
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