Jason Day’s dominance ‘bothers and motivates’ Jordan Spieth

For Jordan Spieth, it was not the congestion from an allergy-spawned virus that vexed him on Tuesday as much as it was having to talk more about world No. 1 Jason Day.

Spieth, unofficial host of this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson event near his Dallas hometown, had a birdie’s-eye view of Day’s world-beating form for the first two rounds of last week’s Players Championship. Safe to say, golf’s second-ranked player was irritated to watch from his couch as Day won the Players and strengthened his hold on the No. 1 ranking with his seventh PGA Tour victory in his last 17 starts.

“He’s separated himself, and that bothers me and it motivates me,” Spieth, who can win two consecutive Texas tourneys (including next week’s in Fort Worth) and still not reclaim the top ranking spot, told reporters ahead of Thursday’s start to the Byron Nelson.

As Day compiles wins at a Tiger Woods-like rate, last year’s golden boy missed the cut at The Players after a late-innings squander of his chance to prevail at Augusta. The winner of two major championships in 2015, Spieth has maintained that his Masters collapse was firmly behind him and that he aims to go easier on himself.

After all, Spieth believes he has plenty of critics outside the ropes beating up on him, a point he drove home Sunday night when he tweeted a photo of himself as an infant.

Putting on a happy face at an event where his best finish since turning pro was a T30 in 2015 (he tied for 16th as a 16-year-old amateur in 2010) is certainly the intent.

“I need to really focus on that, on staying on the positive, because I can hit either extreme this week, trying so hard to play so well in front of so many friends and family,” he said. “If I can engage with my friends and family … and kind of smile more, you know, it’s only going to help me on the course if I’m approaching it like it’s just another round with friends.”

Just don’t expect the 22-year-old winner of seven tour contests to tamp down his ire if he fails to meet his own expectations at an event he and his father would hop fences to watch and a venue where he learned to love the game.

“When I say get back to having fun, I mean it’s not like I’m still not going to get frustrated with myself because that’s healthy, you should,” Spieth noted. “If you don’t execute a shot that you feel that wasn’t that hard to execute, there should be some frustration, but no lingering or negative talk is really what I’m talking about. Just eliminating that.”

Whatever demeanor Spieth sports in the heat of battle, his overriding goal remains overtaking Day for ranking bragging rights.