Jason Day drew the ire of various golf gamblers and DFS players last week when he withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational after playing just six holes.
The collective disappointment in Day’s back injury that caused the WD turned to anger on Friday when a Twitter user snapped a photo of Day at Disney World with his family. Despite not being very active on social media, Day saw some of the backlash and addressed it on Tuesday at The Players Championship.
“So Friday I heard there was a photo going on social media about me enjoying a day with my family,” Day said. “Heaven forbid I enjoy a day with my family, and I was there half a day walking around.
“(My doctor) didn’t want me to lay down. He just wanted me to walk around, stay on my feet, kind of get things loose, and then after that I went and saw my physio at the golf course.”
Jason Day sighting at magic kingdom @TronCarterNLU @NoLayingUp @the_fried_egg pic.twitter.com/sxqsyClSeZ
— Kevin Caverly (@Kevin_Caverly) March 8, 2019
Day explained that after withdrawing, he went and saw a spinal surgeon in Palm Beach and received four injections “in and around” the spine, which alleviated the pain. And for those who complained that Day couldn’t play a few rounds of golf, but could manage to go to a theme park, he had this to say.
“Yeah, (Disney) was great,” he said. “I didn’t get to ride any rides. I was just walking around, unfortunately. But yeah, it was nice to be able to spend some time with the family.
“When I have an injury, I get sad and depressed. I mean that’s the biggest thing. I’m not going to be sitting in my bus depressed, and especially when the doctors tell me to go and walk, so I’m going to go and make sure that I hang out with my family because I do have a life other than golf.”
He expounded further saying that he gets some of the frustration from fans on social media, but said it’s not like he wants to be injured. He tries to take it in stride and stifle a laugh or two at his own expense, but he said there’s a line that needs to be drawn somewhere.
“I don’t care if people make memes about me. I think a lot of them are funny,” he said. “I mean, it’s fine. It is what it is. People trying to be funny and that, I get a good laugh out of it and I’m okay with that. You can tell between people that are being funny and people that are actually trying to – that really hate you.
“It’s unfortunate, but it just reflects what they are as a person. I don’t have a problem with them, they have a problem with me. So it’s more on them than myself.
“A really good piece of advice that I heard is to get back at people like that you got to live well and prosper. You’ve just got to enjoy what you can, try and get better each and every day, live well, and try and grow.
“It’s something that sometimes it’s hard to, when you see someone write something or someone says something to you, you feel like deep down inside you want to defend yourself, but like you’re in a better spot. You’re walking inside the ropes, you’re playing golf for a living, you’re doing a lot of good things. I’ve got a good family. I’ve got three kids that are healthy and happy at home. I’m in a tremendous spot.”
Day is taking that high-road attitude into a tournament this week that he’s won before. He’ll tee it up on Thursday alongside Francesco Molinari and Tony Finau at 1:48 p.m.
