{"id":389950,"date":"2024-05-02T02:14:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T02:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389950"},"modified":"2024-05-02T04:06:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T04:06:48","slug":"freaked-out-day-reveals-olympic-games-regret","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389950","title":{"rendered":"'Freaked out' Day reveals Olympic Games regret"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie golfer Jason Day<\/a> has admitted regret over not taking his spot in the Australian Olympic<\/a> team for the 2016 Rio Olympics.<\/p>\n

Day \u2013 who was world No.1 at the time \u2013 opted out of travelling to the Rio games amid concerns over the Zika virus.<\/p>\n

But he was far from alone. Six of the top-10 ranked players in the world \u2013 Dustin Johnson<\/a> (2), Jordan Spieth (3), Rory McIlroy<\/a> (4), Adam Scott<\/a> (8), and Branden Grace (10) \u2013 all opted to skip golf's first Olympics appearance in a century for the same reason.<\/p>\n

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"Looking back on it, I wish I would've gone to Rio," Day told media ahead of this weekend's Byron Nelson, where he will enter as defending champion.<\/p>\n

"I had one of those spots, and at the time we were having kids, and then obviously there was that (Zika) scare, so I was kind of like a little bit freaked out about that."<\/p>\n

\"Jason<\/p>\n

Zika virus can cause birth defects if a woman is infected during pregnancy. While usually transmitted through mosquitoes, it can also be sexually transmitted.<\/p>\n

"I wish I would've gone, but if I get the opportunity to go and represent the country, my country, Australia and get to go to Paris, that would be an absolute blast, an honour to do that," Day said.<\/p>\n

"To be able to call yourself an Olympian would be even better. If I get the opportunity I'm 100 per cent going."<\/p>\n

With Day and Scott both out, Marcus Fraser and Scott Hend were Australia's representatives in Rio. Fraser finished in a tie for fifth, and Hend a tie for 39th.<\/p>\n

A drop in form and a back injury kept Day out of contention for selection in Tokyo, where Australia was represented by Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman, who have both since moved to LIV Golf.<\/p>\n

A lack of rankings points on the LIV tour has seen Smith \u2013 arguably still Australia's best golfer \u2013 drop to 55th in the official rankings.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Although calls are growing louder for the Olympics eligibility criteria to change, world rankings position remains the sole qualifier. The cut-off for Paris is June 17 for men \u2013 the day after the US Open \u2013 and June 24 for women.<\/p>\n

Day is Australia's highest-ranked player in 22nd, with Min Woo Lee ten spaces below him. Adam Scott is also above Smith in 52nd, but has indicated he won't go to Paris if chosen.<\/p>\n

To make it even harder for Smith, Ryan Davis lies only three spots beneath him in the rankings, and can play in PGA Tour events every week until the cut-off should he wish to.<\/p>\n

But Smith still has two majors \u2013 the PGA Championship at Valhalla in a fortnight and the US Open at Pinehurst from June 13-16 to potentially vault back into contention.<\/p>\n

The Byron Nelson will get underway on Friday morning (AEST), although a poor weather forecast is threatening the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aussie golfer Jason Day has admitted regret over not taking his spot in the Australian Olympic team for the 2016 Rio Olympics. Day \u2013 who […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":389952,"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\/389950"}],"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=389950"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389954,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389950\/revisions\/389954"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/389952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=389950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=389950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=389950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}