Jason Day was the reigning world number one when golf made its return as an Olympic sport in Rio in 2016, but opted to pass on the opportunity to represent his native Australia due to reported Zika virus concerns.
But speaking ahead of this week’s Olympic Golf Men’s event at Le Golf National on the outskirts of Paris, where he joins fellow Aussie Min Woo Lee, Day admits that he regrets the decision made in 2016 and appeared to suggest that his real concerns lay not in the Zika virus, but in combating fatigue as his status as the game’s top player brought additional requirements.
“Looking back on it, there’s some regret, obviously, in not going,” he said. “At the time, I think I was like No.1 or No.2 in the world and I think I was like to a point where I was kind of burnt out, and the last thing on my mind was representing Australia in the Olympics.
“I should have just sucked it up and played. It would have been a great experience for me to go down there and represent something that’s bigger than you, you know what I mean?
“[But] it’s a thrill to be here I’m looking forward to seeing how this week goes.”
Day is set to join Sepp Straka of Austria and Korea’s Tom Kim for rounds one and two at Le Golf National, and is arguably playing the best golf of his career since slipping down the world rankings during 2017.
“I don’t think it was necessarily from winning too much,” he added of the mental and physical burn out he was experiencing. “It’s more the other stuff that comes with it. Like stuff we’re doing now. The signing of autographs. The pulling of different directions from your team, your family, your coaches.
“After a while, you can only give out so much of yourself before you pull the brakes and you’re saying, I’m not doing that anymore.
“So looking back on it, I understand how important it is to give yourself time to not only reflect on what you’ve done great but also just give yourself time to reset.
“I live a pretty private life, and I think the ability to say no to things is very important. It’s okay to say no to people. It may hurt their feelings in the short-term but, at some point, you’ve got to give yourself a break.”