Jason Day Makes History in Winning US PGA Championship

Day is the first Australian to win a major since Adam Scott picked up the 2013 Masters and only the fifth to win the PGA Championship after Steve Elkington (1995), Wayne Grady (1990), David Graham (1979) and Jim Ferrier (1947). The stats obviously supported that view – the Aussie could not get the job done despite coming close on several occasions in the past in major championships.

Now heading into the final day of the PGA Championship, with the pressure mounting and a surging Jordan Spieth lurking in the shadows, you had to wonder if the moment would prove – once again – to be too big for the a guy who’s spent most of his pro career settling as a bridesmaid.

“I realize that although we have just reached that goal of being No. 1 in the world, with the way these guys are playing and the way you see it being played on the biggest stage, it’s going to be really, really hard to keep that position”.

“I can’t remember the last time I had a 4:50 alarm”, Grace said. The setting at Whistling Straits was so stunning and the organization of the tournament was so impressive that I watched whenever I could over the weekend. “Just to be able to finish the way I did was fantastic”. While he didn’t want to go on camera, he does have many fans around Central Ohio.

And now that he’s finally broken through at a major with his victory at the PGA Championship, Day, 27, has cast himself as the worldwide member of the triumvirate. Spieth’s plan was to catch Day somewhere along the front nine, though he could tell early that Day was smashing the driver and would be tough to beat.

“My mom took a second mortgage out on the house, borrowed money from my aunt and uncle, just to get me away from where I was to go to school, 7 hours drive”, said Day. “So, I mean it’s good to be a Major champion”, said Day on Sunday, August 16th. “He played like he’d won seven or eight majors“. He eschewed mistakes and, when he did make one, he bounced back well.

Day produced a dynamic performance at Whistling Straits, but his success was as much a product of the gym as the range.

Tiger Woods is given 25-1 odds of winning at Augusta National Golf Club, where he’s claimed four of his 14 major titles. This year, Woods was laughably bad at times, missing the cuts badly at the U.S. and British Opens.

At the PGA Championship, Spieth noted that he works on his distance and has “gotten a little bit longer each year”.

It seems his life has been littered with challenges, beginning with losing his father Alvin to stomach cancer when Jason was just 12. That’s when he met Colin Swatton, who to this day is his coach and caddie. Woods has been nothing but absolutely awful in majors in recent years. And if that wasn’t enough, he was paired with Masters and U.S. Open champion Jordan Spieth, the new No. 1 player in golf. Day finished at 20-under 268, not knowing until it was over that it was a record.