Jason Day ready to get on course after social media uproar

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.  -- Jason Day loved the photo that was taken of him last week at Disney World. He hated the message and social media uproar that accompanied it.

Day withdrew from the Arnold Palmer Invitational during the first round because of back pain. The next day, on his doctor’s advice to get out and get moving, he took his wife and children to the popular theme park.

The photo wound up on social media, igniting a mini-controversy: How could Day pull out of a golf tournament one day and be at Disney the next? For the record, he didn’t enjoy any rides. He just walked with his family.

“Heaven forbid I enjoy a day with my family, and I was there half a day walking around,” Day said Tuesday during a pre-Players Championship news conference. “(The 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.”

Day, 31, has had back issues since he was 13. It hasn’t stopped him from an impressive career with 12 PGA Tour wins, including wins at the 2015 PGA Championship and the 2016 Players Championship.

Day’s withdrawal created a stir among daily fantasy players and gamblers who wanted to know that Day was nursing a back injury prior to his start at Bay Hill. The most recent injury cropped up two weeks ago when Day was at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, but it wasn’t reported.

“Are we going to get into psych reports now, too, if you have a fight with your missus at home?” Day said. “You’re going down kind of a really rocky road when it comes to that stuff.”

The Aussie said he enjoys a good laugh on some of the social media stuff he sees, but tries to take the high road. 

“You do have your hand tied behind your back because you can’t bite back sometimes because it makes you look worse off,” he said. “You don’t gain anything from it, other than it makes you look sour or angry or bitter.”

Day had four cortisone shots to alleviate the pain, and said he is good to go this week. He’s already played two 18-hole practice rounds this week.

“Obviously those four needles have helped a lot, and I’m looking forward to kind of getting this week underway,” Day said.