Australia’s Jason Day asked a simple question on the eve of the WGC – Dell Match-Play Championship in Austin, Texas.

The question:  “What do I need to do to become World No. 1?”

Day moved back into the No 2 ranking in capturing last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in suburban Olrando so much so the Queenslander is just .3074 of a World Ranking point behind the top-ranked Jordan Spieth.

Of course, Spieth has home Texas soil advantage both this week and next week when he competes in the Shell Houston Open.

However for the past six months Spieth has been the undeniable World No.1 since moving back to the top of the rankings with his victory last September in the Tour Championship,  a victory that also earned him the prized FedEx Cup trophy.

Jason Day (AUS ) Champion in The Final Round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando, Florida, USA. 20/03/2016.
Picture: Golffile | Mark Davison
All photo usage must carry mandatory copyright credit (© Golffile | Mark Davison)

Spieth and Day are the respective No. 1 and No. 2 seeds this week and should they get through their three round robin encounters, and then also progress through the quarter final and semi-finals, will face each other in Sunday’s final of the $US 9.5m event on a course laid out on the banks of the Colorado River.

Getting back to World No. 1, and a position he held for just one week, from 6th to 13th September, 2015 in capturing the BMW Championship, has been Day’s burning gaol since kick-starting his 2016 season.

And now Day can seize an enormous Augusta National edge over Spieth in moving back to the game’s top ranking by denying Spieth at an Austin Country Club course that is very much a shrine to the likes of Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite and Harvey Penick,

However when asked what it would mean to Day to achieve that No. 1 goal in his last event before the Masters, his question was simple.

“What do I need to do?” he said.

The reply was:  “Beat Spieth, basically.”

Day then matter-of-fact manner responded as if the task was as simple as the question: “All right. That’s fair enough.

“At the end of the day, if you’ve got to win, you’ve got to win. And if he’s playing well, which he probably moist likely will, and I’m sure he played here before, especially in college and knowing this place, he’s got obviously a better advantage over me.

Jason Day (AUS ) Champion in The Final Round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Orlando, Florida, USA. 20/03/2016.
Picture: Golffile | Mark Davison
All photo usage must carry mandatory copyright credit (© Golffile | Mark Davison)

“But the good thing about it is that I’m not playing against him until the last match if I get through all my matches.

“Jordan’s still got a lot of tough opponents coming up, like we all do. That would be great to be able to go to Augusta with that No. 1 tag, and it would be great to get through this week and win it and really go into Augusta with a lot of confidence knowing that my game is in the right shape and trending towards hopefully putting on that green jacket.”

And after taking three months at the end of last year, and in a period that coincided with the birth of a second child, Day clearly has a hunger to not only absorb any challenge Spieth can mount to dominate world golf for a long while to come.

“The biggest thing for Jordan and myself is not look back on what we did last year.,” said Day.

“It’s great to look back on it and see what we’ve done and the success we’ve had, but now we’ve got to focus on what we’re doing today. Everyone was asking, I said last week, I said pretty much last week, everyone is asking what was going on, why haven’t you played as well as you need to be or are expecting to be. And it’s just a process. It happens.

“For me, personally, I took three months off and that’s usually a momentum killer with the second half of last year to this year. It happens. My expectation is, every week, as long as I give it 100 percent every day, then I can’t think of anything else that I need to do. I’m going to try to do the best I can to win each and every week.

“But sometimes, especially at the start of the year, sometimes it’s just hard. Your expectation level is so high and, with having three months off, it’s tough to come out and win tournaments when you take that time off.

“In Jordan’s case,  he didn’t take so much time off. I said it last week, you’ve just got to — I said I was worried about him, and I really am. I just don’t want him to be burned out, because he is so much a big part of the game. He’s a young kid that is a dominant player in the game. He’s important to golf. Him and Rory are kind of the face of our next generation, and we need players like that, especially to grow the game and especially for future generations.

“Sometimes if you’ve got too many obligations or you’re playing too many things, you can kind of get burned out and really just need some time off. Who knows, he might like playing that much. I don’t know, I haven’t really talked to him about it. And if that’s his schedule, that’s his schedule and he’s happy with it, that’s fine. Ultimately he does what he needs to do to win golf tournaments.

“So right now I’m just trying to focus on what I need to do to try to win the next one.”