Jason Day's killer instinct shining through in win

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EDISON, N.J. -- When Jason Day finished up his PGA Championship victory two weeks ago, tears filled his eyes as he tapped in the final putt, followed by full-blown sobbing in the aftermath as he hugged anyone within arms' reach.

When he concluded his Barclays victory Sunday afternoon, Day watched as his final putt trickled toward the hole and dropped in, then raised his arms in exultation, breathed a hefty sigh of relief and smiled.

There are a variety of factors for the differing reactions, not the least of which is the fact that one accompanied a major championship and the other came during a FedEx Cup playoff event.

It shouldn't be understated, though, that this is also the byproduct of winning.

This is what happens when a player becomes accustomed to standing on the final green knowing victory is imminent. It's what happens when he starts feeling not just like he can win, but like he should win. It's what happens when he begins to make a habit of lapping the field.

"It's not easy, I can tell you that," Day argued after prevailing Sunday by a half-dozen strokes. "Even though it may look easy, it's not easy."

The numbers support his claim. Entering the current season, Day had competed in 151 PGA Tour events and won only twice. For most players, the "only" qualifier in that sentence wouldn't be applicable. That type of victory ratio throughout a career will keep any player employed at the game's highest level and, yes, extremely wealthy.

Day isn't just any player, though. This is a player who was known as a phenom coming up through the ranks, a can't-miss type of prospect who was expected to prosper among the best of the best.

From 2006 through '14, he owned seven runner-up finishes, including three in major championships. With "only" those two wins, he started earning a reputation as a major talent who couldn't close or lacked that killer instinct or was simply too nice to be too successful.

The truth is, he was just building up the scar tissue.

"You have to fail," he explained. "You fail and you learn. The moment that you start thinking about, 'I can't close, I can't close,' that's when you start not believing in yourself. That's the worst thing you can possibly do."

Day knows the feeling. He endured those times when he felt like he could win, not that he should win.

So much has changed this year. In 17 starts, he has won four times already -- double the number in those first 151 events of his career. With each one, he has grown more confident than the last, and if you don't believe that, just check the numbers.

Back in February, he won the Farmers Insurance Open in a playoff. He followed that with a 1-stroke victory at the RBC Canadian Open in July, then a 3-shot victory at the PGA Championship, and a 6-shot margin here at the Barclays -- the same differential between him and second place as there was between second place and 11th place.

"It feels good, the work is paying off," he insisted. "Obviously, no one likes to get dubbed that name where you can't close, you can't finish. But the hard work that I've put in, mix that with [how] I've kind of changed mentally with how I look at things, I think is helping. Helping a lot."

Day points to this year's Open Championship as a massive turning point. He didn't win that week, instead leaving a putt short of the hole on the final green, leaving him 1 stroke out of the three-man playoff.

He left St. Andrews emboldened. Maybe a little wiser, a little steadier, a little more confident.

Make that a lot more confident.

"It was just the way that I felt calm, that no matter what happened, everything was going to be OK and you were just going to keep fighting and not give up," he explained. "Ever since then, I just felt a lot more calm on the golf course. I felt like it was my time. Like mentally I felt like, you paid your dues, now it's time to go out and win tournaments. That's kind of the way it felt for me, especially coming out in final rounds."

It feels that way for everyone trying to beat him, too.

In one year -- really, in the second half of one summer -- Day has launched his reputation as a guy who can't close into the atmosphere like one of his high-arcing tee shots.

He has a new reputation now. As a guy who can win the big one, who owns a killer instinct, who feels not just like he can win tournaments, but that he should win tournaments.

Day realized all of that again on Sunday. You could see it in that sigh of relief on the final green and you could certainly see it in the smile.