Jason Day remains undecided on playing the Masters

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 22: Jason Day of Australia addresses the media during a press conference after withdrawing due to an illness in the family from round one of the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at the Austin Country Club on March 22, 2017 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images)

With a week to go, Jason Day's status to play in the year's first major at Augusta National remains largely undecided.

Jason day forfeited from his first match at the WGC-Dell Match Play Championship last week, disclosing that his mom, dening, had been diagnosed with lung cancer. After a couple of days, Day revealed that she had unddergone successful surgery, however on Monday, the Aussie said that doesn't mean he's guaranteed to tee it up next Thursday at Augusta National.

"My mom told me not to worry about it," Day said via a video conference set up by the Zurich Classic. "It's hard to do that. It's easy to say . . . but it's really, really difficult. So currently I'm scheduled to play Augusta . . . but if things don't come back the way we want them, I don't know what's going to happen."

While he has provisionally kept the Masters a part of his schedule, what offered promise was his plan to play a practice round at Augusta National later this week. Day and his family are anxiously awaiting the results of tests concerning the presence of cancer in Dening's body.

At the start of February, Jason day held the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings and was also a co-favourite to win the Masters. Day has a runner-up and a third-plce finish in his six trips to Augusta National so far in his career.

"It's very, very difficult to even think about playing golf when a loved one is going through such a traumatic experience," said Day, who lost his father to cancer when he was 12. "Once I get past this initial stage, hopefully I'll find some balance and I'll be able to kind of move on and really focus on getting my game back."