{"id":384917,"date":"2024-04-15T02:12:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T02:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=384917"},"modified":"2024-04-15T05:03:38","modified_gmt":"2024-04-15T05:03:38","slug":"day-drops-hammer-blow-on-smiths-olympic-hopes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=384917","title":{"rendered":"Day drops hammer blow on Smith's Olympic hopes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Day<\/a> has dropped a bombshell on fellow Aussie Cameron Smith<\/a>'s Olympic<\/a> ambitions, with the current Australian No.1 declaring he "made a mistake" and is "looking forward" to going to Paris if the opportunity arises.<\/p>\n

After dropping to 68 in the world rankings following his move to LIV golf<\/a>, Smith must record big showings in the first three majors of the year to stand any chance of claiming one of the two Australian spots available for Paris.<\/p>\n

Despite an equal sixth-place result at Augusta on Monday morning (AEST), the 30-year-old still stands behind Day and 2023 Fortinet Australia PGA Championship<\/a> winner Min Woo Lee.<\/p>\n

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Amid a career resurgence, having dropped outside of the world's top 150 in 2022, Day's ambitions to represent his country have remained uncertain until now, particularly after he missed the 2016 Olympics despite qualifying.<\/p>\n

Day, who finished in a tie for 30th at The Masters, said he does not want to miss out on another Olympic shot and "should have gone" to Rio in 2016.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI'll play. If I'm in, I'll play for sure. I'm looking forward to it," Day said.<\/p>\n

"I think I made a bit of a mistake not going down to Rio, even though part of it was family-related. I kind of missed out on that, and I probably should have gone.<\/p>\n

"But if I get the opportunity, I'm looking forward to going."<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Day revealed he has no preference for a playing partner, with West Australia's Min Woo Lee, ranked 32, the likely man to join him in Paris.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Aussie golf veteran Adam Scott<\/a> revealed he would not be heading to Paris in the coming months, despite ranking higher than third place Olympic contender Cam Davis – who finished equal 12th at Augusta National.<\/p>\n

Day noted \ufeffthat despite Smith's fifth top-10 finish in five appearances at the Masters<\/a>, he is under pressure to perform well at the upcoming US Open<\/a> and US PGA in order to make the cut for Paris qualifications.<\/p>\n

"I think Min Woo is playing good solid golf and obviously Smithy, playing in LIV you don't get world ranking points," said the 36-year-old.<\/p>\n

"He needs to play well in the major championships trying to shoot himself up the leaderboard.\ufeff"<\/p>\n

\"Min<\/p>\n

Lee, who entered the Masters week feeling the effects of a broken finger, could play alongside his sister Minjee at the Olympics if he is selected.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old revealed that booking his ticket to Paris is his top priority for 2024, aside from winning a major, revealing he was fitted for an Olympic uniform in Sydney late last year.<\/p>\n

"When you're a professional, you don't really get to represent the Australian side," he said.<\/p>\n

"Obviously, every week, week in and week out you represent Aus, but when you're an amateur, I got to play for Australia a lot of times.<\/p>\n

"I do miss putting on the green and gold – obviously Jason is a playing partner and a teammate – that will be really special.<\/p>\n

"My sister is going to be in there, too, so it will be an unbelievable experience. Hopefully, it can stay this way and I can play.\ufeff"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Day has dropped a bombshell on fellow Aussie Cameron Smith's Olympic ambitions, with the current Australian No.1 declaring he "made a mistake" and is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":384919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384917"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=384917"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384917\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384922,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384917\/revisions\/384922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/384919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}