Jason Day intends on competing in the Masters, less than two weeks after his mother’s Dening underwent a procedure to remove a cancerous mass from her lung.
The former world No. 1 withdrew from last week’s WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play after six holes into his opening match on Wednesday, emotionally detailing afterward that his mother had been given a terminal lung cancer diagnosis at the start of 2017. Day explained further that he brought his mother to the United States with the hopes of a more aggressive treatment and a better diagnosis. The Friday procedure was successful, but the post-surgery diagnosis is not yet known. That information is what will inform Day’s Masters plans.
“Obviously, I’m still nervous because we’re still waiting to see … if it has spread or not,” said Day in a media call ahead of the Zurich Classic. “From there, we have to kind of come up with a game plan whether to go chemo – a form of chemo radiation – or something else.”
Day said he was heading home to make sure his mother’s procedure and recovery went well. He said he struggles trying to keep his emotions in check as he see his mother fight. The 2015 PGA champion recalled how his father, Alvyn, battled cancer before it claimed his life when Day was 12.
“Obviously, I’ve been hanging out with my mom a bit and seeing her and she’s recovering well,” he said. “She’s a tough lady, but it’s hard because I look at her and she’s on the pain killers and all that stuff, what she needs to do to recover.
“But I can’t help but think of my dad when I see her in that situation because when they go through such a traumatic surgery like that it just can be tough.”
Dening has told her son to continue playing, but Day knows the next steps for her will dictate his next steps in golf.
“So currently I’m scheduled to play Augusta,” he said, “but if things don’t come back the way we want them, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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