Jason Day withdraws, Rory beaten

Jason Day withdrew after just three holes of his match against Pat Perez at the World Match Play in Texas.

Day was three down after six holes of his opening match against Pat Perez when he conceded, and initial reports suggested an injury problem. However, in his press conference immediately after his withdrawal, Day revealed the real reason he quit was due to his mother's illness.

"It's been very emotional," he said. "It's been really hard to play golf this year.

"My mum's been here [the United States] for a while and she has lung cancer. At the start of the year she was diagnosed with 12 months to live.

"The diagnosis is much better being over here, she's going into surgery this Friday and it's really hard to even comprehend being on a golf course right now because of what's she going through.

"She had all the tests done in Australia and the docs said she was terminal and she only had 12 months to live and I'm glad I brought her over here because of it."

Day, whose father died from lung cancer when he was 12 years old, added: "I've already gone through it once with my dad and I know how it feels and it's hard enough to see another one go through it as well.

"As of now I'm going to try and be back there with my mum for surgery and make sure everything goes right with her.

"Emotionally it's been wearing on me for a while and I know my mum says not to let it get to me but it really has, so I just need some time away with her to make sure that everything goes well because this has been very, very tough for me.

"I'm going to do my best and try and be there the best I can for her because she is the reason that I'm playing golf today.

"I've obviously pulled out this week because of my mum going into surgery to try and get rid of this three or four centimetre mass that's in her lungs. I'm just hoping for a speedy recovery for her and we can get this behind us and she can live a long life.