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Excited to be making his Olympics debut, former world No.1 Jason Day believes winning gold in Paris will secure his place in the Golf Hall of Fame.
A burning desire to wear the green and gold and the chance to clinch a place in the Golf World Hall of Fame are driving Jason Day towards Olympic glory.
Eight years after "selfishly" opting out of the Rio Olympics while enjoying a dominant stint as world No.1, Day will make his Games debut in Paris alongside brother-sister act Min Woo and Minjee Lee and the in-form Hannah Green.
The US-based Day, who has five children with his American wife Ellie, is often criticised for not returning often enough to his native homeland for the flagship Australian summer events.
But, delighting in his Olympic team shirt, the 36-year-old says representing Australia at "the pinnacle of sport" will go down as a highlight of his decorated career.
"I get nervous thinking about the possibility of winning the gold medal, and even just a medal in general," Day said on a Zoom call on Friday.
"As a kid growing up playing on the Australian teams back home in Australia, that was something that was huge to me.
"But this is different, obviously. This is the highest stage you can possibly get in any sport when you represent your country in the Olympics.
"I mean, it's as far as you can go."
With one major title and a Players Championship trophy among 13 US PGA Tour wins, Day is tantalisingly close to meeting all the criteria - if he hasn't already - to make golf's Hall of Fame.
"Am I on the outside looking in of the Hall of Fame? Maybe, maybe not. I'm not sure," said the former 80-week world No.1.
"That's obviously up to the judges but if I do win a gold medal, then I honestly believe that will just kind of push me over the edge."
In a phenomenal, Tiger Woods-like run, Day won seven times from 17 starts in 2015-16 but opted out of the Rio Games amid fears of contracting the Zika virus while his wife was pregnant.
He now regrets that decision.
"There was a lot on my plate," he said.
"Obviously it's unfortunate to look back on it and go, 'Man, I had the opportunity to go and represent Australia, especially with how good I was playing too.
"You learn from previous mistakes. I should have gone. I know that now because a lot of people would kill for that.
"I look at these opportunities, and when I was No.1 I took a lot for granted.
"I never thought there would ever be a possibility my ranking would balloon to like 175, and then fight through injuries. When you are top of the world, you don't think of anything other than the success you are having."
In a quirk of fate, the Paris Olympics tournament will follow just three weeks after the season's final major, the British Open, is staged at Royal Troon - as it was before the Rio Games.
Day admits his form isn't flash, having missed the US Open cut and played only average at the past two PGA Tour events.
"But golf is funny. It's not one of those sports where if you have a Michael Phelps that's at the top of his game, that he's a favourite and most likely he's probably going to win unless there's a massive upset," he said.
"Same with Usain Bolt, when you watch him run the 100 metres or the 200 metres. There's usually a heavy favourite.
"Whereas golf, just recently with Scottie (Scheffler), it was pretty much anyone's game where you just go there and find a little bit of lightning in a bottle."
