A tie for seventh at the Farmers Insurance Open is predicted to push Day back inside the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since THE PLAYERS Championship last March, a sign his resurgence continues on the right track.

Day book-ended his week at Torrey Pines with rounds of four-under 68 to finish five shots back of Max Homa, his fifth top-20 finish in his seven starts on the 2022/2023 PGA TOUR season.

For a major winner and former world No.1, the way back is a long way from complete.

But Day is seeing enough to know that his very best is getting closer and closer.

“You know, it’s all positive stuff. I think the game is moving in the right direction that the whole team wants it to move in,” said Day, a two-time winner at Torrey Pines.

“It’s a good start to the year, I’ve just got to like kind of take the positives and just keep moving forward.”

The WM Phoenix Open is Day’s next assignment, where his swing will face the blowtorch of the coliseum that is the par-3 17th at TPS Scottsdale.

The 35-year-old can take confidence that when it mattered on a Sunday in front of large galleries at Torrey’s famed South Course that his game stood up to the pressure.

“San Diego, they turn out for this event. You can tell that they really love this event because there’s a lot of people here,” Day added.

“It’s always nerve wracking when you’re working on the swing and you kind of don’t know where it’s going and you’ve got to play well coming down the stretch at a golf course like this.

“Overall, I’ve had a fun week, it’s been great.”

Day hit nine of the 14 narrow fairways in his final round on Saturday, converting those to 12 of 18 greens in regulation.

A holed bunker shot for birdie on the par-4 seventh was a highlight as he made birdies from 16 feet at two and three feet at six and fired a brilliant tee shot to inside three feet to set up a fourth birdie of the front nine at the par-3 eighth.

Bogeys at 14 and 16 slowed his surge up the leaderboard before bouncing back with birdies from 15 and five feet respectively at 17 and 18.

“It was nice to be able to just try and commit to the best I could and execute the best I could out there,” said Day.

“I felt like I did a good enough job to be able to hit enough good quality shots to make it a lot easier on my game today than it was yesterday.”

Day was the only Aussie to play all four rounds at Torrey Pines with Aaron Baddeley, Cameron Percy, Harrison Endycott and Cam Davis all missing the cut.

A rare rain interruption in the desert has forced the DP World Tour’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic into a Monday finish.

World No.1 Rory McIlroy will start the final round three strokes clear with Lucas Herbert and Kiwi Ryan Fox five shots back in a tie for 11th.

Min Woo Lee is the next best of the Aussies in a tie for 30th, Jason Scrivener in a share of 74th with one round to play.

Results

PGA TOUR
Farmers Insurance Open
Torrey Pines Golf Course, San Diego, California
1            Max Homa         68-70-71-66—275           $US1.566m
T7          Jason Day           68-71-73-68—280           $282,750
MC        Aaron Baddeley 71-74—145
MC        Cameron Percy  75-72—147
MC        Harrison Endycott           70-80—150
MC        Cam Davis          79-76—155