Fil-Aussie golfer Jason Day talks of Tiger Woods' influence

Growing up, Filipino-Australia golfer Jason Day looked up to Tiger Woods but recently, Day had a chance to beat the golf prodigy in a tournament in Australia. After being away from Australia for five years, Day made his homecoming last Nov. 12 -- his 24th birthday -- at the Australian Open, where he played alongside Woods on the first two rounds.   The two met again in the President Cups held in Melbourne last Nov. 18, where Day’s dream came true—he and partner Aaron Baddeley beat Woods and Dustin Johnson, 1 up, IndiaTimes.com said.  Still, Day was all praises for Woods.  “He has influenced my life a lot. I’ve always wanted to play against him,” Day said in a New York Times article. It was Woods, Day said, who urged him to wake up “every morning at 5:30” and get “up to 32 1/2 hours a week of practice.”   Day said he even fashioned his game after Woods, whose posters were stuck on his wall.   Woods, the first player “to hold all four professional major championships at the same time,” praised Day, saying he “absolutely” has “the talent to be world’s No. 1.”   The golf champion told the New York Times that Day has the ability and the “right attitude” to make it, but getting to No. 1 “takes time.”   “You’ve got to win golf tournaments, and you’ve got to be consistent week in and week out,” he said. “Just give him time, and I’m sure he’ll get there.”   Rising   Born to an Australian and the Filipina who fell in love through letters, Day began practicing his backswings at the age of six.    But his father, Alvin—who gifted him with his first golf club at the age of three—succumbed to stomach cancer when he was 12, which prompted him to turn away from the sport and let himself be drawn by vices.   “There was me getting in trouble at school, doing stupid stuff,” he said in an interview with The Register-Guard in 2007. “I didn’t really care about anything. I was very wild. I got into trouble a lot.”   Believing in her son’s potential, Day’s mother, Dening, sent the young man to a golf academy in Gold Coast, about seven hours away from their house in Queensland.   This was where he found “an interesting biography” of Woods, who Day said “influenced my life dramatically.”   “He’s the one reason I started playing this tour. If it wasn’t for him, I’d be back home in Australia, and not even playing golf,” he told the Register-Guard.   Humbled   With “youthful optimism,” Day—an Australian amateur champion—predicted in 2007 that he would be the No. 1 in the sport at age 23, adding that he was “sure” that he can take Woods down.   Day may not be the world’s No. 1 yet, but the player—humbled by experience and injuries—has inched his way to No. 8 at the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour Ranking with two runner-up finishes in the majors this year.    “At the start of my career, I thought I was going to come out and kill it,” he was quoted by the New York Times as saying. “I’ve slowly worked my way back to where I believe I can be.”   The Filipino-Australian “is no longer in a rush” to the top, but “has resurfaced” in talks of being “golf’s next superstar.”   “As long as I stay motivated and keep practicing hard, I know that I can one day get to that No. 1 spot," he said. - with Rose-An Jessica Dioquino, VVP, GMA News