Day was a late withdrawal from both the Australian Open and Presidents Cup over the summer due to the back complaint, describing his feelings of anger and frustration at having to watch the International team fall just short against the Tiger Woods-led US team at Royal Melbourne.

The 32-year-old has not played since the Mayakoba Golf Classic in mid-November and has spent the past eight weeks building up to a return to tournament golf at a venue where he was won twice previously in 2015 and 2018.

During Tuesday’s press conference Day spoke of his frustration at a 2019 season where he had just one top-10 finish post The Masters and shuffled through four different caddies including a short-lived stint with Kiwi looper Steve Williams.

The 2015 US PGA champion also revealed that he had two epidural shots in an effort to try and relieve the pressure on his back last year and that his pre-tournament preparation has had to change markedly.

“The gist of it is my rib cage is kind of out of alignment and starts to pull on certain things and certain muscles,” Day explained.

“A bent over position and things start to tighten up. If I don’t get that stuff kind of loosened out

and get a little bit of mobility in there, that’s when things start to… It’s not so much the actual

swing itself, I’ll just go bend over and pick something up, my back will go out and then I’m

done for two weeks.

“I can only putt for 30 minutes a day. I’m typically putting two-and-a-half hours a time every day in my off weeks so obviously I’m a little bit behind schedule.

“But I feel pretty good about how things have progressed. I was obviously on a ball count last

week. I started at I think 50 balls and moved myself into the 100s, so I’m quite pleased with

how things are progressing.

“I’m coming off eight weeks of rehab and very little practice, so am I expecting a lot? I don’t know. We’ve just got to go in there and see how it goes.”

Now ranked No.44 in the world, the former world No.1 was criticised for not returning to Australia to aid the Internationals’ cause but said that having to watch from his home in Ohio was just as painful as the back injury that stopped him from making the trip.

“Every time I would watch the Presidents Cup coverage, I was angry,” said Day.

“I had to go up to the barn to kind of either ride or do some sort of exercise to get some frustration out

because I really wanted to be there.

“I was very disappointed that I couldn’t be there, especially throughout the whole week, playing, being in the singles matches, at least putting some points on the board, but I haven’t had the best record in Presidents Cup. So with that being said, it was nice to be able to see them put up a good fight.

“It was fun to watch, but I was quite frustrated sitting on my backside watching it.

“But the rehab that I needed to do, I needed some time off. Unfortunately, my back went out four or five times last year so it was nice to be able to take that time off and get ready for this season.”

Day is one of nine Australians in the field this week and will start his campaign on the North Course at Torrey Pines partnered with Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth.