At the 97th PGA Championship Jason Day proved to be too much for the All-American Kid Jordan Spieth who was trying to complete the All-American Slam. Let the puns begin: it was Jason’s Day.
While the Australian Day could be tabbed as the Wonder from Down Under because of his nationality he could also wear that moniker for the fact that he has been so close, so often in majors we were wondering if he was ever going to finally capture one.
Day saw to that today with a special round on a difficult day at the intimidating Whistling Straits course. He started the day with a two shot lead over Spieth and when it was all said and done he stretched the margin of victory to three strokes while setting a new record by finishing at twenty under par, the first time anyone had reached that mark in a major championship.
While the entire golf world was hoping and expecting a Duel in the Sun finish between Day and Spieth the likable Aussie went off script. He birdied the second and then strung three together from five through seven and he was putting the hammer down.
There was no tug of war between our two combatants, no to and fro, no back and forth. Well there was some forth I guess but it was all for Day.
It’s not that he didn’t make mistakes he did with a bogey at eight and a horrible mishit at nine but the true measure of a champion his responding to adversity. Day did just that when he salvaged a par after that hacker’s chunk at nine. With three birdies and a lone bogey on a tough back nine Day stayed well in the lead and with his impressive birdie on sixteen we knew it was over for everyone else.
Day’s performance was not only victorious and historic it was filled with emotion and sportsmanship.
Spieth and Day played the final round of the season’s final major the way our game should be played with passion for the game and appreciation for your opponent. They chatted back and forth all day and acknowledged each others fine shots.
Spieth is a dogged competitor but not so self absorbed that he doesn’t appreciate his opponent’s skills.
Day is much the same a determined golfer that works as hard at representing the game as he does at playing the game. Seeing these two gentlemen display the integrity and sportsmanship that is part and parcel of this game was as compelling as Day’s emotional win.
As Day lagged his birdie putt on eighteen to mere inches from the hole the enormity of the moment overcame him. Tears flowed as fast as he could wipe them away with the realization of his life long quest fulfilled.
Day’s story reads like a sappy Hollywood script. He lost his father as a young boy, fell in with the wrong crowd and became a discipline problem for his single mom. She dug deep and got her son into a golf academy and golf became his outlet.
His caddie, Colin Swatton who nurtured a young Day’s golf game as well as his emotional growth serves more as a surrogate father than a caddie. It’s a classic story: troubled kid hooks up with a mentor who gets him on the right track and through hard work and determination fulfills his dream.
Day’s emotional release on the eighteenth green as he and Swatton hugged and cried together wasn’t just another millionaire cashing a check. It was about the difficult journey he has made to make himself into a world class golfer. A world class golfer that exemplifies all that is right about the game of golf.
It was a joy to watch a man reach a goal he worked so hard to achieve and to do it with such class and sportsmanship.
It truly was Jason’s Day.
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