Theirs is a growing bond, an alliance between a golfer who yearns to be young again and one who has found the kind of success in the past 11 months that the elder seeks to recapture.
But as Tiger Woods takes on the role of mentor to Jason Day, a former world No. 1 now shepherding the current No. 1, Woods refuses to give stringent direction.
When Woods, 40, is peppered by questions from Day, 28, he won’t tell Day how his game can get better. Instead he asks the Australian to flip the query to how Woods did it.
That’s the way Woods learned from players like Seve Ballesteros, Raymond Floyd, Mark O’Meara and John Cook when he joined the PGA Tour in 1996.
“Different guys from different generations took me under their wings, but never really told me to do it their way,” Woods said last month at the Quicken Loans Invitational media day at Congressional Country Club. “I’d make it my own. And that’s what Jason’s doing.”
Nine-time Bridgestone Invitational champion Woods will miss this week’s World Golf Championships event for the second consecutive year as he recuperates from another back surgery in October. Day heads the field in the $9.5 million no-cut tournament at Firestone Country Club that includes seven of the world’s top 10 players.
Missing are No. 4 Rory McIlroy, No. 7 Henrik Stenson and No. 9 Danny Willett. This year, the Bridgestone is not sanctioned by the European Tour and runs opposite the 100th Open de France in Paris. Because of the compressed schedule due to the Olympics, two majors — the British Open and PGA Championship — will be played in three weeks starting with the first round at Royal Troon on July 14.
The hottest player in the Bridgestone field is Day, who has racked up seven victories in his last 19 tournaments dating back to the Canadian Open in July. He concluded last year with four victories in his last seven events. In 2016, he has captured the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Match Play and the Players Championship.
Day’s run can’t compare to Woods’ stunning nine-victory season in 2000. But since the 2015 U.S. Open, where Day finished tied for ninth despite a serious bout with vertigo, he has recorded 14 top-10s, including in the past five majors. This year, he has seven top 10s in 12 events, earning $5.9 million.
Going into the Bridgestone, Day has racked up 10 career victories, one major (the 2015 PGA), 54 top 10s and nearly $33 million in earnings. Only McIlroy, with 11, has more victories among the 20-somethings on tour.
Day has a long way to go to reach Woods’ totals — 79 victories, 14 majors, 186 top 10s and $109 million in earnings. But as the pressure mounts and the attention ramps up, Day might have found the perfect confidante.
“We’ve become really close, we’ve bonded into this really good friendship,” Day said of Woods last week at PGA Championship media day at Baltusrol Golf Club. “Probably three-quarters of the text messages we go back and forth, we’re giving each other crap. We’re not even talking about golf, we’re chirping at each other.
“The other quarter is like kind of egging me or me egging him on. Just trying to get us better and better and better. He always says, ‘I just want to be young again.’ So I’m trying to keep him young and he’s trying to push me in the direction I need to be, motivation-wise and playing-wise.”
Woods said at the Quicken Loans media day that he loves their needling. But he pointed out that Day asks “very in-depth questions” as he strives to improve.
Woods knows the challenges will mount for Day as his children get older. Day and wife Ellie have two — son Dash turns 4 on July 11, daughter Lucy was born in November. Ellie grew up in Lucas, Ohio, and once worked as a waitress in Twinsburg, where they met. They now own a home in the Columbus suburb of Westerville.
“He has a great family and he worked extremely hard, and he’s trying to figure out how he can get better as a player, especially with having a family and traveling,” Woods said. “Dash is going to be in school here soon. It gets harder, they don’t want you to leave.
“It’s fantastic how he’s playing, how he’s handling himself, how focused he is and how committed he is to improving. You see a lot of guys come out here and just play just for playing’s sake. He practices with purpose, and you can see when he plays.”
Day said last week he might retire at age 40, and will re-evaluate everything at that point, according to the Golf Channel.
“I might want to go, ‘I’m done. I’m just happy with everything, and I’m going to go off my merry way and I’ll probably never pick up a golf club ever again,’ ” Day said, per the Golf Channel. “But it also depends on if Dash is playing, if Lucy is playing, if I’m still competitive and my body’s great. What I’m doing with my body and with my golf game, I’m trying to extend the longevity of my career.”
Day took three months off last winter and said he played only four holes while he concentrated on his family and his fitness.
But he’s also eyeing Woods’ success, even as their barbs fly. Day is especially envious of Woods’ 95.6 percent rate (according to the Golf Channel) of closing out when he holds the outright 54-hole lead. Day is 6-for-12 in his career, but five for his past five dating back to the PGA.
Day joked at Baltusrol that he’d only been No. 1 for 17 weeks, and Woods held that position for 683 weeks.
“That’s like 13 years,” Day said.
“I don’t know his record of closing 54-hole leads out; I think he’s only lost maybe one or so,” Day said after winning the Players Championship. “But to be able to talk to him and have him text me and say, ‘You need to stay in your world and just focus on getting it done and don’t think about anything else other than just hitting the shot. All 18 holes are important, not just 16, 17 and 18.’
“It’s a pretty good piece of advice, especially coming from a guy that has dominated the game for a very long time. It’s been an amazing journey for me to be able to idolize him as a junior guy and now I’m good mates with him and I get to pick his brain.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.