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Jason Day’s status for the 2017 Masters was a little touch and go for a while. After withdrawing from the WGC-Match Play two weeks ago, Day disclosed that his mother Dening has lung cancer and was scheduled for surgery later that week. 

His Masters plans were up in the air.

Day went forward with plans to play this week, though, pending a prognosis on his mother. He got a good one, he noted Tuesday at his pre-tournament press conference.

“She went through a successful surgery on her left lung and she was told by the doctor, don’t have to do chemo which is really, really exciting stuff. Obviously we have to be cautious because the first two to three years are very, very important. 

“It was right on the border of having to do chemo or not, 3 1/2-centimeter cancer that was cut out. Anything above kind of 3 1/2, they look at doing chemo. She was right on the border, so it’s all good things.”

Day, who has finished in the top 10 three times at Augusta, has been encouraged by patrons all week, and he has appreciated the support.

“I just wanted to say a quick thank you to not only everyone in the room here, through their well wishes and prayers, from peers to sponsors to, all the sponsors to fans; the amount of text messages and e‑mails that I got and my agent got, I mean, it meant a lot,” Day said Tuesday.

“Well, a lot of people were asking how my mom is and they were concerned.  It just makes me feel good. I was saying to Rex yesterday, I feel like everyone is my family now, because I’ve been hurt in front of you guys, I’ve cried in front of you guys now. Practically everything. The only thing I haven’t done is showered in front of you guys yet.”

Day revealed that he probably would have played regardless, but he doesn’t think he would have fared very well if the surgery had not been successful or his mom needed chemotherapy.

“I would have been thinking elsewhere,” Day said. “But now it’s past and I’m thinking about playing golf. You know, once I knew that she came out of the surgery well and no more talk about chemo, I pretty much said, ‘I’m going to go down and see how it goes and then come back if I need to.’

“The emotion of the roller coaster of saying that she only had 12 months to live; then I brought her over here and the diagnosis was a lot better. There was a roller coaster of emotions and, once again, I was torn. Some days I would wake up and I would feel really, really bad and sad about what’s going on with my mom and other days I would wake up and then I would start feeling guilt because I don’t think ‑‑ I didn’t feel like I was feeling bad enough for the situation that my mom was going through.”

Thankfully he doesn’t have to feel that way any longer, at least for now. This week, it’s all about shaping a game that has been a bit sub-par (at least for Day) so far in 2017. He is coming off one of the great putting seasons ever last year, but he hasn’t found his stuff so far this year. 

“I‘m a little bit unprepared, to be honest,” Day said. “Usually I have a week or two more weeks of tournaments under my belt. Maybe a week or two more weeks of practice, as well, and I didn’t pick up a club from Match Play till when I got here Friday. Because obviously I was busy with my mom and busy with my family and all that stuff and not really thinking about playing golf. 

“I don’t know, maybe it’s a good thing. Maybe it’s a good thing. But once again, I’m going to just do the best job I can with what I’ve got. Obviously my priority and my main focus was my mother, and now that’s kind of evolved and taken care of, and I can start to focus more on the golf side of things and do the best job I can. That’s all I can really do is control that.”

Day’s best finish at Augusta was a tie for second in 2011.