Former world No.1 Jason Day revealed that his past injury issues was the reason LIV Golf have never offered him a contract. The Australian golfer has battled with chronic back pain for over a decade which has seen him attempt unique methods to quell his suffering, including blowing into balloons to alleviate pressure on his back.
Despite being a major winner - having claimed the PGA Championship in 2015 - and previously reigning as the sport's world number one, his injury troubles proved too significant for the Saudi-backed league to put forth a deal, he admitted.
When speaking to Code Sports Australia, he confessed that he remains happy on the PGA Tour and a move to LIV never occurred because a deal was never put on the table in the first place. "What happened was, it was a business move to just go in and explore the potential of what would happen," the 36-year-old told the publication.
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"I said [to my agent], 'No worries, I'm happy with where I'm at, but it's always nice to know.' And they [LIV Golf] said, 'We love Jason, but he's too injured; he just gets too many injuries" as he then joked: "I don't blame them."
Since his PGA Championship victory almost a decade ago, he's enjoyed eight further wins on the Tour, tallying up 13 tournament victories in his career. His most recent return to the winner's circle came last year at the AT&T Byron Nelson, which ended his five-year drought for a win.
While a tournament win has so far eluded him this season, he's maintained a consistent level of play as he's now ranked No. 36 in the Official World Golf Ranking. He's missed only three cuts this year with his best performance at a major coming at Royal Troon where he finished tied for 13th at The Open.
Day, meanwhile, has expressed a desire for the sport to reunite, and he may be getting his wish with The Sun claiming that the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF have agreed a $1billion (£774,000) peace deal. The alleged deal would see PIF take an 11% stake in PGA Tour Enterprises, along with LIV and Newcastle FC chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan taking the position of chairman.
Speaking about a potential merger, Day added: "I'm hoping we join back together because there’s definitely a lot of players on the LIV tour that we miss on the PGA Tour. I've always played very central with LIV and just never really got in the politics of it all."
