His life's back in order, but Jason Day concedes he'll tee off in the 146th Open Championship with his golf game scratchy and merely hoping to compete rather than expecting to win.
Having lost his world No.1 ranking but not his mother, Day accepts the trade-off after emerging from a harrowing few months that brought home important perspective, but zero trophies.
Two years after falling a shot shy of a playoff after leading into the final round at St Andrews and then snaring his breakthrough first major at the US PGA Championship, Day knows he's an underdog vying for the Claret Jug.
"(In) 2015 and 2016, I hit it long and straight, straight-ish. I hit my iron shots a lot closer and I holed everything on the greens," Day said on Wednesday.
"And this year it's not as long, it's not as straight. My iron shots aren't as close and I'm not holing as many putts.
"So it's a perfect formula for not having a good year."
His struggles are entirely understandable, with the 29-year-old - renowned as one of golf's most meticulous workers - admitting he lacked motivation and discipline after learning his mother Dening may have only had months to live.
Day's mother has since survived her cancer scare, but his game continues to suffer with the now world No.6 missing the cut at his past two events, including last month's US Open.
"When you feel like you're going to lose someone that is very close to you, there's nothing you want to do more than just be with them and you don't even want to think about playing golf or even think about working," he said.
"So there's a stretch there where I'd just go home and just sit around with her.
"And obviously the time that I would be spending working and practising, it caught up to me and I hadn't been playing as great as golf as I should have, but within reason.
"I needed to take that time off because I thought I was losing my mum, and didn't think she was going to be around anymore."
Giving himself "leeway", Day isn't placing unfair expectations on himself at Birkdale.
But he hasn't given up, either, on becoming Australia's fifth winner of the Open behind five-times champion Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle, idol Greg Norman and Ian Baker-Finch, who reigned at Birkdale in 1991.
"You always have to believe in yourself. It's easier said than done," Day said.
"You can say that you want to win. But if you don't truly believe in it, it's not really going to happen.
"I've got to understand the form hasn't been great. I've got to just try and start with tomorrow's first ball and just somehow find it on Sunday and hopefully I'm there in contention."
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