Jason Day vows to reclaim No. 1 ranking from Jordan Spieth

Jordan Spieth reclaimed the No. 1 ranking with his Tour Championship victory on Sunday but the presumptive PGA Tour Player of the Year will likely hear Jason Day’s determined footsteps not far behind him when each begins the next season.

Day held the top spot for a brief seven days.

Then Spieth crowned his own glorious 2015 campaign with a convincing four-shot win at East Lake that also earned him the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus. After finishing a disappointing seven shots behind Spieth in the season finale, the 27-year-old Australian pronounced himself satisfied with his five-win “good, positive year,” but pledged to reclaim the position atop the world rankings.

“I’m looking forward to getting some rest. Really trying to take care of my body in the off-season to come back as a new person for next year,” he told reporters on Sunday. “And a lot more motivated, a lot more hungry to stay on top of the world.”

Rating himself as the “best player in the world … for the most part of the summer,” Day said losing the top seed after working so hard to get it would just drive him to reach the summit in 2016.

“It’s not a letdown at all, actually. It’s more of a motivation to really understand what I need to do to get to that No. 1 spot, how hard I need to work for next year to keep that,” he said. “I want to be more of a dominant player and I want to be at the top of the World Ranking list for a long, long time.”

Anyone who doubts the resolve of the reigning PGA champion must have missed the many mentions, especially as he was racking up four wins in six starts toward the end of the season, of his hardscrabble background. Even those conversant with Day’s account ought to check out this 10-minute mini-documentary about how he overcame his unfortunate start in life to ascend to the pinnacle of the golf world against incredible odds.

In “Never Say Die,” Day acknowledges that he “wouldn’t be here” if he had not lost his father at the age of 12.

”If my dad was alive,“there’d be no chance I’d be on the PGA Tour,” he says in the narrative. “Absolutely none. It was just an opportunity from an unfortunate thing that happened to me, but it changed my life for the better.”

Thanks to the extreme sacrifices of his mother and sisters and the fortuitous link with long-time coach and caddie Col Swatton, Day conquered his demons and dedicated his life to his craft and his wife and son. A truly inspiring story.