Page 39 - min.vos 7 jan,2016

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SPORTSThursday 7 January 2016
Golfer Jason Day has his own act to follow at Kapalua
Jason Day hits from the second tee during the Tournament of Champions golf pro-am, Wednes-
day, Jan. 6, 2016, at Kapalua Plantation Course on Kapalua, Hawaii.
DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) —
Jordan Spieth isn’t the only
player with a tough act to
follow.
Jason Day is coming off
a monster year of his own
with five victories, includ-
ing his first major at the
PGA Championship and
a pair of FedEx Cup play-
off events that gave him
a brief spell at No. 1 in the
world.
His goal for 2016 is more of
the same. A lot more.
Irish golfer Christy O’Connor Jr dies at 67 closed out a little, and
LONDON (AP) — Christy
O’Connor Jr., the Irish golfer draw to retain the trophy as
who produced the shot of
his career to help Europe
retain the Ryder Cup in
1989, has died. He was 67.
O’Connor died in his sleep
while on holiday in Tenerife
in Spain’s Canary Islands,
the European Tour said on
Wednesday.
The crowning moment of
O’Connor’s career came
at The Belfry in his second
appearance for Europe at
the Ryder Cup.
O’Connor hit a 2-iron from
the fairway to about 3 1/2
feet at the 18th, helping
him to win the hole and
secure a 1-up victory over
Fred Couples. The point
helped Tony Jacklin’s Eu-
“I’m very motivated to get
back to No. 1,” Day said
Wednesday.
“I’m very motivated to win
as many tournaments as
I can this year, and to be
a more dominant player.
Whether it happens or not,
we’ll see at the end of the
year. But I’m going to give
it a good shot. I’m going to
work my tail off every single PGA Tour winners from the
day to try and achieve
that.”
The first step is the Hyundai wants a continuation from
Tournament of Champions,
which kicks off the new
ropean team earn a 14-14
defending champion.
After Couple conceded
the match, O’Connor
looked up to the sky, with
his arms outstretched, and
was brought to tears as he
was mobbed on the green.
“It was the greatest and
most emotional moment
of my professional life,”
O’Connor, who won four
events in 28 years on the
European Tour, said in 2010
of the 2-iron.
The Golf Union of Ireland
described O’Connor, who
became heavily involved
in golf course design, as “a
gentleman, an iconic fig-
ure of Irish golf, and a true remembered for his 2-iron
ambassador.”
easy.
While everyone in the field
has played tournaments
(AP Photo/Matt York) over the last few months
because of the wrap-
year in grand style. around season, Day brings
This is the strongest field at rust to this island paradise.
Kapalua in 10 years, with He hasn’t competed since
Spieth and Day at Nos. 1 Oct. 11 at the Presidents
and 2 in the world, along Cup. He has played only
with Rickie Fowler, Dustin four holes, that was a
Johnson, Bubba Watson, month ago in Florida during
British Open champion a corporate day. He chose
Zach Johnson and defend- to stay home in Ohio as his
ing champion Patrick Reed wife gave birth to their sec-
among the 32-man field of ond child, a daughter they
named Lucy.
previous year. That doesn’t mean he
Day, much like Spieth, wasn’t in the news.
Day was spotted in Detroit
the previous year. for a Thursday night NFL
Only it might not be as game against the Pack-
ers. He was on the sidelines
holding a camera from
some TV connections he
had. That was a big thrill.
More famously, he had a
courtside seat to watch the
Cleveland Cavaliers, where
the most watched highlight
was LeBron James going
hard after a loose ball and
crashing into Day’s wife, El-
lie, sending her to the hos-
pital.
Social media being what it
is, Day caught some grief
for not jumping in front of
his wife.
“It happened so quick. I’m
going to do that?” he said.
“I’m not going to stop a
260-pound guy that’s 6-8
running full speed. Ellie took
it like a champ, though.
“He was a pioneer for pro- Couples, which won him
fessional Irish golfers and his only Ryder Cup point
inspired a generation of having been 1 down to the
players.” American with three holes
The nephew of Irish golf- to play.
er Christy O’Connor, “I said to Christy, ‘Come on,
O’Connor Jr. didn’t finish one more good swing for
outside the top 100 of the Ireland’ and, of course, he
European Tour’s Order of hit the shot of his lifetime,”
Merit in his first 21 seasons Jacklin said. “We couldn’t
following its inception in have retained it without
1972. He won the Senior Brit- him, no doubt.”
ish Open in 1999 and 2000, O’Connor’s other Ryder
and won two titles on the Cup appearance was in
Champions Tour in 1999. 1975. “Christy played in the
“We’ve lost a true Irishman, shadow of his uncle but he
character and golfer,” for- became a legend in his
mer Ryder Cup player and own right, especially in Ire-
captain Paul McGinley land,” Jacklin said. “He will
said. also be remembered for his
O’Connor will forever be architecture, and his name
will live on for a long time to and never finished worse
from 229 yards against come.”q
Once I saw her, she was on
the ground, she was kind
of freaking out a little bit
about her neck, and once
they started doing the test
on her — she’s moving her
legs, hands, feet, arms — I
knew everything was go-
ing to be OK. She had post-
concussion symptoms.”
Day said he left his house
twice and both times he
was on TV.
That’s the price of stardom
that he earned last year
with a performance that
was better than all but one
player.
Spieth is under a brighter
glare in Hawaii because of
his two majors and sweep
of all the awards, though
he is approaching the new
year as if the old one never
ended. In some respects, it
didn’t. Spieth tied for sev-
enth in Shanghai to regain
the No. 1 ranking, he tied
for second in the Austra-
lian Open and he finished
fourth in the Bahamas.
Spieth has specific goals
that he only shares with
his team. The big picture
hasn’t changed.
“Got to close tournaments
out, so it goes to victories,”
he said. “Certainly, you’ve
got to be there in a couple
of major championships
come Sunday and have a
chance to do what we did
this past year, which we
had a chance each of the
four Sundays.
“I’ve been close a lot and
you’ve got to have the
breaks go your way,” he
said.
“But closing it out is some-
thing that’s a different
mental edge than I really
knew the last couple years
prior to the 2015 season.”
Day can replace Spieth at
No. 1 in the world ranking
by winning, or even finish-
ing second depending on
what Spieth does. The bat-
tle for No. 1 figures to take
place for at least the first
few months of the season.
As for his desire to win more
and become a domi-
nant player? He was aw-
fully close to that the final
four months of last season,
when he won four times
than 12th in his last nine
events. q