Australian golf champion Jason Day has opened up on the “dark times” in his career in a candid, exclusive interview on Fox Sports’ PGA Championship Preview show, revealing there were times considered hanging up the clubs due to injury.

The 36-year-old Queenslander, who won the PGA Championship in 2015, was forced to change his golf swing after battling chronic back problems that forced him to withdraw from several tournaments.

During the 2019 season, he was receiving cortisone injections mid-round to treat the pain, finishing fifth at that year’s Masters after receiving on-course medical attention.

“It got to a point where I couldn’t stand in place for more than 15 minutes,” Day told said in the interview, airing in full on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports on Monday night.

“I was in pain a lot. Nothing was really working.”

Day soon realised he was playing golf “for all the wrong reasons”, competing in tournaments to fulfil contractual obligations rather than striving for wins.

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“It felt like a chore,” Day continued.

“It didn’t feel enjoyable to me to play golf, not only injured, but to play golf for the wrong reasons.

“There was no love and passion … (I was thinking), ‘Am I finally getting close to racking up the clubs?’

“If I didn’t make the changes body-wise and swing-wise, I think there would be potential for me not playing again.

“When you’re in dark times in golf, you can get very negative and have a lot of negative self-talk. It can get pretty dark.

“During those times of being hurt and injured, it got pretty dark and I wasn’t feeling great, not only mentally and but physically, and it was hard for me to push through.”

Towards the end of the 2020 season, Day realised he needed to drastically overhaul his game, otherwise his career would soon be over.

“I needed to make the change pretty quick, in regards to not just the body stuff, but also the swing as well to get me to playing where I feel like I should,” Day explained.

“It has been a process.

“It’s been five years of working hard on my body to get it to the point where I wake up every day and don’t feel pain in my body, which has been crazy.”

Day, with his new coach, new action, and new set of sticks, is a completely reimagined golfer, winning last year’s Byron Nelson in Texas for his first PGA triumph in over five years.

“I’m happy to say that I’m on the other side now,” Day said.

“I’ve just got to tidy some things up on the golf course to find that success and find that confidence again.”

WATCH JASON DAY’S FULL INTERVIEW ON THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW SHOW TONIGHT (MONDAY NIGHT)