Date: October 03, 2016
Author: Robert Grant

Norman’s challenge to Day

Greg Norman has challenged current World No.1 Jason Day to beat his mark of weeks spent at the top of golf's rankings.

Day was first crowned No.1 on September 20, 2015 but held the position for just one week before it was snatched away by American Jordan Spieth.

Spieth and the Queenslander then swapped the lead ranking until Day seized it on March 27, 2016 and has held it until the present time for a total of 31 weeks.

Norman was the top player in the world for a cumulative 331 weeks over more than six years after their introduction in 1986.

The all-time record is held by 14-time major winner Tiger Woods' at 683 weeks.

Day revealed Norman's challenge to chase down his mark and said he was anxious to extend his time atop the rankings with Dustin Johnson now breathing down his neck.

"I shared a text with Greg Norman earlier this year, and he said that he would love to see me pass him. That would be great," Day said.

"And if I have the opportunity to do that, I know that's going to take a lot of sacrifice and a lot of dedication.

"Now that I'm No.1, I have to change my mindset to trying to extend that gap between one and two. If you want to be the best in the world, you have to work harder than everyone else, and … be in front of your competition."

One way he could do that would be to improve his driving accuracy which, despite his success this year, has slumped to the worst of his career.

He has found the fairway around half the time off the tee and is ranked 190th on the PGA Tour.

His driver has been a key reason he struggled during the FedEx Playoffs although ultimately he was forced to withdraw with a back injury.

"I need to find the golf course," Day said before his withdrawal.

"I just didn't drive it good. There was a couple of snap-hooks… I was just struggling a little bit with the driver.

"I don't think there was a tee shot where I felt comfortable over to be honest. Every time I was standing over the ball, I couldn't feel like it was going to be a good shot. I was fighting a left shot and I was fighting a right shot."

Day has spent a lot of time working on his driving, which has simply added to his frustration.

"I've been practising pretty solid… hopefully with time the reps catch up with me and I can drive it much better," Day said.

His short game has kept him alive while he battles his tee shots.

"I feel like I'm putting good. My chipping, my touch feels really nice.

"If I just give myself some more opportunities from the fairways I feel like I've got a good chance."