Day hired Williams to 'make winning more of a habit'

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) Jason Day has won a major, reached No. 1 in the world and recorded 12 PGA Tour wins already in his career.

That's not nearly enough to satisfy Day, who believes he has ''severely underachieved'' and needed to make a change if he wants to achieve his goal of winning all four majors.

So after months of contemplating a caddie change, Day lured Steve Williams out of retirement to carry his bag, starting with the U.S. Open this week.

''I think I've underachieved up until now,'' Day said Tuesday. ''I feel like I've got a game that when it's on, I can win most tournaments. And the big thing for me is to go ahead and believe that and have trust in my abilities that I can do that. And now that I have Steve on the bag, I think hopefully that will flourish and I can make winning more of a habit.''

Williams was the caddie for 13 of Tiger Woods' 15 major championships, helped Adam Scott win the Masters in 2013, and has also worked for Greg Norman and Ian Baker-Finch during a long career.

Williams last caddied regularly for Scott in 2017 and has been mostly retired since then but decided to come back because he believed in Day's potential.

''It's not your local Sunday caddie down at your local club,'' Day said. ''It was a little bit intimidating to have him on the bag, to be honest. He's had a lot of great ball-strikers that he's worked for. ... I was excited and intimidated in the same breath.''

Day won his only major in 2015 at the PGA Championship and won eight titles overall in 2015-16 to reach No. 1 in the world. But he has just two PGA Tour victories since then, prompting his decision to make a change.

''I need to start working harder, and that's plain and simple,'' he said. ''And that started with - this is no disrespect to my mates that were on the bag. They were very, very hard workers. They were great. But I think Steve will take me to that next level, and I'm hoping that's the case.''