SAN DIEGO -- Jason Day is an expert on how difficult it is to win golf tournaments, regardless of talent, world ranking, past history or any of numerous reasons why he has been labeled one of those can't-miss prospects in the game.
Now 27, the Australian who overcame a difficult upbringing and has already been a pro for nine years, captured his third PGA Tour title on Sunday in a sudden-death playoff at the Farmers Insurance Open over J.B. Holmes, Harris English and Scott Stallings.
Amazingly, Day has more top-five finishes just in major championships than he does victories, a sign that his name is there often, if not holding the trophy.
"Everyone knows that you just don't get anywhere in life without working hard and putting the dedication in the profession that you love," Day said. "I feel like I should be winning more, but it's a process and I'm just really happy with how things have started.
"Everything's kind of trending that right direction for the majors. This played like a U.S. Open style golf course this week and I'm really looking forward to playing Augusta and the U.S. Open."
Nearly every player on Sunday's leaderboard at Torrey Pines could speak to the difficulty of winning in today's professional golf landscape, with only Jimmy Walker and Nick Watney holding four victories or more.
And even they have had their struggles, with Walker not notching his first win until 17 months ago and Watney now two-plus years since his last win.
Perhaps nobody understands it more than Charles Howell III. The years fly by, faster than Howell can sometimes believe. Wasn't it just yesterday that he was the next great thing in golf, the guy who was going to challenge Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, a "young gun" highly regarded like Day is now?
Howell is now 35 and made a rare appearance high atop a PGA Tour leaderboard Sunday, missing a playoff at the Farmers Insurance Open by a single stroke. It was just his third top-10 finish in the past year, one that has seen him play 30 tournaments since the tour last visited Torrey Pines.
And nearly eight years have passed since the second of his two PGA Tour victories.
"The last time I won a golf tournament feels like two lifetimes ago," Howell said after a final-round 68 at Torrey Pines' South course. "I can't even -- I know the date, and then I'm really aging myself."
Told that he has played 234 tournaments since his last victory at the 2007 Northern Trust Open, Howell quipped, "I've been there for every one of them."
A birdie at the 18th hole ultimately would have put Howell in a sudden-death playoff. Of course he has had his moments with that green, too.
"I've got some history on that hole that isn't kind," he said, referring to the time in 2005 when he hit the flagstick on the final green, his ball bouncing back into the water, denying him a chance at victory. Woods won by a single stroke.
That was one of two runner-up finishes here and 14 overall in a career that has seen him earn close to $28 million.
But his wins have been far apart, and it's a long way removed from what was once predicted.
Howell was a two-time All-America at Oklahoma State, where he won the NCAA title in 2000 and turned pro later that year. A native of Augusta, Georgia, Howell grew up looking ahead to a golf career, was taking lessons from noted instructor David Leadbetter by age 10, when he shot his first sub-70 score.
Nothing he did in college or early in his pro years suggested anything other than a career filled with wins, but those trophies have been difficult to accumulate.
"Not to echo what people say, but it's really hard to win out here," he said. "On top of that, these young players are extremely good. I can show you some gray hairs to show you I'm not young. I played with a kid the other day who said he was born in 1990. I mean, it's just incredible. It's just amazing. And they're ready to win at such a young age."
Case in point: Day.
He has been considered a world-class player for several years. Day nearly won the Masters in his first attempt, in 2011, and has added four more top-five finishes in the game's biggest tournaments.
Clearly he has the ability to compete at a high level, but breaking through has proved to be difficult. He was the class of the playoff foursome, going up against players who have all had their struggles. English needed a victory to get into the Masters, but is now 55th in the world and can still make it to Augusta by moving into the top 50 by the end of March.
Holmes won at Quail Hollow last year but has done little since. And Stallings, the defending Farmers champion, posted his first top-10 since that victory.
So yes, winning is difficult, as Howell knows all too well.
If anyone was poised to win early, it was him. And he did. Howell won the Michelob Championship in 2002, which was his second full year on the PGA Tour. He finished ninth on the money list that year and has been a consistent cash earner ever since.
But he rarely contends, and had fallen to 142nd in the world this week.
"It's nice to be back in the mix," he said.
Day is looking for much more than that. He has contended often. Now he wants to rack up more victories.
"It's baby steps, it's a process," he said. "I keep saying that, I keep saying that over, but it really is. You got to keep doing the little things right, keep working hard and, most of all, you got to want it. You really have to want to come out here and win.
"I've never been more motivated than I am this year. I've been so close to having great years. I feel like this is the one."