Jason Day will finally make it to an Olympics while a brother-and-sister combination are two of the other three golfers set to play for Australia at the Paris Games.
Day was ranked world No.1 in 2016 when he decided not to play at the Rio Olympics, saying he was concerned about going to Brazil with the Zika virus spreading while his wife was pregnant. He said this year that he regretted not going.
“I had one of those spots, and at the time we were having kids, and then obviously there was that [Zika] scare, so I was kind of like a little bit freaked out about that,” Day said at a PGA tournament in May.
Speaking on a Zoom call on Friday, Day said representing Australia at the “pinnacle of sport” will go down as a highlight in his decorated career.
ABC Sport will be live blogging every day of the Paris Olympics from July 27
“I get nervous thinking about the possibility of winning the gold medal, and even just a medal in general,” Day said on a Zoom call on Friday.
“As a kid growing up playing on the Australian teams back home in Australia, that was something that was huge to me.
“But this is different, obviously. This is the highest stage you can possibly get in any sport when you represent your country in the Olympics.
“I mean, it’s as far as you can go.”
Day admitted he regretted not representing his country at the Rio Games eight years ago.
“There was a lot on my plate,” he said.
“Obviously it’s unfortunate to look back on it and go, ‘Man, I had the opportunity to go and represent Australia, especially with how good I was playing too.
“You learn from previous mistakes. I should have gone. I know that now because a lot of people would kill for that.
“I look at these opportunities, and when I was No.1 I took a lot for granted.
“I never thought there would ever be a possibility my ranking would balloon to like 175, and then fight through injuries. When you are top of the world, you don’t think of anything other than the success you are having.”
The Australian Olympic Committee said on Friday that Min Woo Lee would join Day on the men’s team while Minjee Lee and Hannah Green would form the women’s team. The two Lees are brother and sister.
Minjee Lee will become the first Australian golfer to compete at three Olympics, Green returns for her second Games while Min Woo Lee will join Day in making his Olympic debut.
The four players all qualified by virtue of their International Golf Federation Olympic ranking at the end of a two-year ranking period. Green and Minjee Lee finished the period ranked seventh and 11th respectively, while Day and Min Woo are Australia’s highest-ranked male golfers at 27th and 36th respectively.
Green matched Australia’s best Olympic golf finish with a tie for fifth at Tokyo 2020 and has won two LPGA Tour events this year. Minjee Lee has 10 career LPGA wins.
Day has 13 career PGA Tour wins including a major — the 2015 PGA Championship. Min Woo Lee is the reigning Australian PGA champion and achieved a career-best world ranking of 31st in 2024.
The Olympic tournament will be played at Le Golf National at Guyancourt near Paris. The men compete from August 1-4 and the women from August 7-10.
AP/AAP
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Posted 2h ago2 hours agoFri 28 Jun 2024 at 1:50am, updated 2h ago2 hours agoFri 28 Jun 2024 at 1:59am
via The Novum Times
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