Jason Day hopes big guns fire at the Masters

The world No 1 Jason Day is relishing the prospect of a star-studded battle for the Masters, even if it costs him a third tournament win in succession and a second major title.

Day arrived here at Augusta National on the back of victories in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and WGC-Dell Match Play and looking to become just the third player after Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods to claim a green jacket after winning their previous two tournaments.

Such form has seen Day installed as a narrow favourite to win a second successive major following his record-breaking victory in last year's US PGA Championship, but he is well aware that Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, Adam Scott and Charl Schwartzel have all won in 2016, while victory on Sunday would make Rory McIlroy only the sixth player to complete the career grand slam.

“I want the best playing against the best and fighting it out,” the 28-year-old Australian said. “If I end up not wearing the green jacket at the end of Sunday but I have a fantastic competitive match against the best players in the world, that's what I'm there for. I enjoy and thrive off that competitiveness. I would enjoy a Spieth-McIlroy-Fowler-Scott-Watson-Mickelson Sunday. That would be a lot of fun.”

Day revealed last week that he had briefly considered quitting golf before finishing second on his Masters debut in 2011 and believes he needs to recapture his early approach to the event to succeed. “This has been a tournament in the past that I've tried too hard and shot myself out of the tournament,” added Day, who was also third in 2013 but 20th and 28th in the last two years.

“I've just got to kind of relax, understand that I have a certain process that I go through each tournament to get ready to compete and I need to stick to that. Don't do anything more, don't do anything less, and from there just try and go out and execute.

“I've got to understand that the first few years I just enjoyed myself. I had a lot of fun here. It's something I've always wanted to play in as a young kid and I enjoy coming here and I enjoy being on the grounds and playing the tournament.

“And then as time went on, everyone would keep on asking me when are you going to win it and how are you going to win it and all that stuff. I guess I thought about it and felt 'Okay, I've got to kind of force it this year' and that's when I started missing stuff and making mistakes and mental errors.”

Day was just three shots off the lead after an opening 67 last year, but shot 74 in the second round and was suddenly 11 adrift of runaway leader Spieth, who went on to equal the tournament record of 18 under. But early indications suggest course conditions might mean a repeat of such low scoring is not on the cards.

“Last year I felt like maybe the greens were just a tad slower than we expected them to be,” Day added. “Obviously I don't know what they're going to do because they keep things under wrap pretty good here, but I can already tell that the greens are very quick, especially yesterday on a Monday.

“It's possible we're looking at a pretty difficult Masters this year. If they keep going with how they are, the greens are going to be pretty quick, and the wind is going to be pretty steady out there. Thursday, Friday is going to be a very difficult first two rounds.

“It's going to be a little bit cooler this year, too. So with all those conditions wrapped in, I'd probably look anywhere between 10 and 12 under to win the tournament right now.”