The inspiration and drive to then push on from what your life’s work has been about to higher accolades or positions, something no one fathoms when setting those sort of goals, with few experienced in such a way to help guide them on that path.

That is exactly what faced Jason Day back in late 2015 and early 2016 when he reached the pinnacle of men’s golf in the weeks following his maiden, and so far only, major championship title at the 2015 PGA Championship.

“Ever since I was a 13-year-old kid,” said new World No.1 Day after winning the BMW Championship when asked when he set the goal. “Once I got to turning professional, I said, ‘Okay, now I want to try to accomplish getting to No.1 in the world’, and that's kind of – around 18 years old when I really wanted to kind of push for that.

“I just always had a vision of me standing on top of the earth when I was a kid and knowing that right now there's no one on this planet that's better than me, that's pretty cool. That out of all the golfers that are in the world playing right now, that I'm the best. It's such a good feeling. That's kind of what I was thinking back when I was a little kid.”

That emotional high was sustained over the course of almost a year as Day continued at a healthy clip contending at the biggest events, winning his fair share and staying at the top of the world ranking tree. Yet the Queenslander’s future goals he outlined after that BMW Championship victory have so far failed to materialise.

“I'd love to win all the majors, get the career Grand Slam would be fantastic,” he said back in 2015. “To win as many tournaments as I can. I'm just here for this one purpose, and that's to try and get better each and every day and try and win as much as I can, while I can. It's not going to last forever, so I may as well do it quickly.”

Now, nearly eight years on from claiming the almost comically oversized Wanamaker Trophy, Day’s own words have proven prophetic.

Day has rebuilt his swing to ease stress on his body and compete at the highest level. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Winning three times from March to May in 2016, including jewel in the PGA Tour crown The Players Championship, Day looked intent on taking full advantage of his time at the top. But it would be two more years until he won again on the PGA Tour, with his second title of 2018 his 12th on the PGA Tour, before a 1,835 day wait to win for the 13th time at this year's AT&T Byron Nelson.

Injuries and illness have been a constant part of the Jason Day story, with his troublesome back, vertigo, allergies and more occasionally drawing jest from the golfing public and segments of the media. His search for any and every solution to his ailments, including lying on the ground and inflating and deflating balloons, a source of much mirth.

Added to his physical woes were the personal ones. Wife Ellie endured a miscarriage and his mother Dening suffered through an extend battle with cancer before passing away in early 2022.

Understandably so, Day’s golf suffered during the period of emotional and physical turmoil. A time in which he also moved away professionally from career long coach, caddie and father figure Col Swatton.

His world ranking that for so long had driven the now 35-year-old to achieve amazing success went into a free fall. The low point coming almost seven years to the day after he reached the pinnacle when Day found himself as the 175th ranked male golfer on the planet in early October, 2022.

As he prepares for this week's PGA Championship, however, it is a resurgent version of the once hard swinging, putting machine, who has uncovered a way to play the game without putting the stress on his body. And a mindset and goals that have seen him climb back inside the top-50, contend regularly and, make his way back into the winner's circle on the PGA Tour.

Day kisses the Wanamaker trophy after winning the 2015 PGA Championship. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“The goal is to try and get back to No.1 and whatever wins come in that, that's trying to get back there,” he said earlier this year. “They're like little steps along the way to get back to No.1. If it happens sooner, great. If it doesn't, I'm just going to keep working hard and hopefully it happens somewhere down the road.”

The differing perspective of a rush to get goals ticked off quickly evolving to patience is a big part of the new Day make up that is steadily rising back to the lofty heights of the game, when to many it seemed as though he could be well and truly done playing the game professionally by the time he reached 40.

One of those “little steps” was returning to Augusta after missing 2022, but it is hard to imagine a better chance to truly mark the successful transformation than when the PGA of America hosts its biggest event at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York.

Seventh at the same venue in 2013 when Jason Dufner won his major title, Day’s approach to the course, which underwent an Andrew Green-led restoration in 2019, will be very different 10 years on.

“I think you hear guys saying they're taking ownership of their game. I never really understood that until the last two years. To really kind of understand how my body's working, where things need to be body-wise and balance-wise, for me to be able to swing the club a certain way is important,” Day said recently reflecting on his career so far.

“I'm not 21 anymore and I don't recover the same way, so I have to be smart that way. Then learning about the golf swing has been interesting. Then going through some of the putting stuff that I went through the last year and a half, overall just learning and trying to get better.

“When I got to No. 1 in the world back in '15, I enjoyed the journey getting there, but when I got there, I didn't know how I got there, which is interesting to say because I had a team of people around me that would just take care of everything. So they just kept the horse running, and I was just like, okay, I'm going to run in a straight line.

 “I think this time around I'm just doing it slightly different. At least I'll kind of have essentially an understanding of how things are and where they're going and where I want to be.”

That understanding has been developed with this assistance of Tiger Woods’ former swing guru Chris Como, also at times swing coach to Bryson DeChambeau during his own transformation as a player.

Right: Day and Col Swatton realise a lifelong dream of reaching No.1 in the world ranking. PHOTO: Getty Images.

Working on an action that delivers the club on a shallow attack angle and creating more repeatable and less impactful body positions, Day has dropped a few yards of distance but improved his ball striking consistency.

Combined with the signs of his trademark putting skills returning, having lost the edge in the primary skill that propelled him to No.1, Day is a more complete player than the younger version.

“My technique got off a long way there for a moment, and I couldn't even start my putts on line,” Day recently said of his putting woes. “Every time I'd look down at the hole, look down at where I was aiming, I'd hit the putt and it would start half an inch to an inch left every single time.”

The current challenge for Day is combining all the improvements together in competition now that he considers himself physically healthy while also learning to deal with the stress of personal challenges off the course, including watching his mother’s decline.

Overcoming those challenges largely aided by confidence for Day, who admits he was “lost” at times during his on course stuggles.

“That's probably the biggest thing that I'm like trying to slowly get, gain back is the confidence,” he says. “It's a very humbling experience going from No.1 in the world to No.150 and the level of play because for a moment there I didn't know if I was going to play golf again just based off my injuries and like what that was doing to my body and how I was not competitive for a good couple years, good two, three years.

The restored Oak Hill will be very different to the test dished up in 2023. PHOTO: Getty Images.

“With the disciplined work with my coach and my trainers, I started seeing results in practise. Then that practise, I started seeing results in like social rounds, and then from there it started going to competitive rounds. It's funny, it's like, it spiralled up with the confidence.”

Nowhere should Day’s confidence be higher than at the PGA Championship that of course now takes the place as the second men’s major of the calendar year.

From 13 PGA Championsip starts, Day has missed just two cuts and finished inside the top-25 on nine occasions, including his 2015 win.

The East Course at Oak Hill is now back to playing more in line with what Donald Ross intended when he first laid out the course, its differences to 2013 somewhat paralleling those of Day the golfer.

A new style of player, with a new mindset that harks back to what helped lift him to the top of the game in the beginning, the same way Ross’ design earned the East Course high rankings among the best courses in America.

Day after his breakthrough win at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, his 13th win on the PGA Tour. PHOTO: Getty Images.

After finally breaking through for his 13th victory on the PGA Tour, Day referred to this win being a step in the right direction. The win part of the journey he and Como have been working towards, putting the puzzle back together piece-by-piece with hard work the most important element of the jigsaw.

“It feels strange to be sitting here. I don't know how else to explain it," he said last week. "To go through what I went through and then to be able to be a winner again and be in the winner's circle is very pleasing, and I know that there's been a lot of very hard work behind the scenes that a lot of people haven't seen.

"Just trying to better yourself not only on the golf course but off the golf course, as well, and growing and learning and just trying to be a better person I think it where it's at.”