Jason Day still hoping to play in Masters

Jason Day expects to arrive in Augusta, Ga., on Friday to start practicing for the Masters but said he could pull still out of the season’s first major, depending on his mother’s prognosis following surgery for lung cancer last week.

“Obviously, I’m still nervous because we’re still waiting to see if it has spread or not,” said Day, who spoke Monday on a video conference set up by organizers of next month’s PGA Tour stop at Avondale, La. “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 was 12 when his father, Alvin, died of cancer.

The world’s third-ranked golfer revealed his mother Dening’s cancer diagnosis after withdrawing last week from a tournament in Austin, Texas.

Day said that the initial diagnosis came in Australia at the beginning of this year and that she had scheduled surgery in Columbus, Ohio, late last week.

Dustin Johnson, intent on giving his body a break going into the Masters, has withdrawn from the Shell Houston Open to rest from his five-day victory in Match Play. Johnson won his third consecutive tournament Sunday in Austin when he won two matches that went the distance, a 1-up victory over Hideto Tanihara in the semifinals and a 1-up victory over Jon Rahm in a championship match that Johnson had led 5 up with 10 holes to play.