Matthew Coritz

It was an emotional day for the Day family. Walking to the first tee, Jason Day saw his caddy turned around and read “Adenil,” his mother’s name, across the back of his bib. He fought back tears pre-round, and right that second he knew what better day than today. She passed away a year ago from a long battle with lung cancer, and he knew that if he were to win, this would be for her. Donning a pink shirt, Jason did just that breaking a 5-year drought to win the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship. Jason and his mother forged an extremely tight bond over the last half-decade with Jason fighting a battle of his own against injuries and vertigo, while his mother fought her own fight. Regarding his career, Jason said, “To be honest, I was very close to calling it quits. I never told my wife that, but I was okay with it, just because it was a very stressful part of my life.” Through his own belief and the support of his family, he didn’t quit and is now reaping the benefits. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.

Jason Day has a wild story that not many people talk about. Growing up in Australia, Jason struggled mightily after losing his father Alvin at the young age of 11. He became an alcoholic and had a propensity for fighting by the age of 12. This is where his Mother stepped in and took it upon herself to change Jason’s life for the unimaginable better. She worked all day, grinding her tail off so she could provide for Jason and his two sisters. Times were so tough, he has said his mother would “cut the grass with a knife because we couldn’t afford a mower” and the family had to “boil water in a pot for baths because we didn’t have a water heater.” Realizing she had to act, she borrowed money to send him to Kooralbyn International School, a boarding school with an academy for golf. This solved his off-the-course problems as well, giving him the perfect environment to focus on school and golf— this place was in the middle of nowhere with nothing else to do. He has been quoted as saying he would practice 32 hours a week, waking up at dawn to walk a mile with his clubs over to the facility. This sounds like a story grandparents tell at family get-togethers about how they would walk to and from school every day and it was 3 miles uphill each way. These kinds of stories usually go in one ear and out the other, but he truly lived this story. It also sounds like a certain someone that would bike 3 miles each way with his clubs on his back so he could play golf freshman year of college. That someone would actually be me, and what a time it was. It’s no wonder though when people counted Jason Day out after his run of injuries and fall from number one in the world, he was undeterred. He was going to come back and win. He’d been through too much to stop short of this goal. 

It was an exhilarating Sunday, with as many as 6 players tied for the lead on the back nine in the afternoon. There were some big names battling for the crown including Day, Scottie Scheffler, Adam Scott, Tyrell Hatton, and Si Woo Kim. Scheffler is on a pretty mind-boggling run right now.  In his last 13 starts, he has finished no worse than 12th. Read that a couple of times and let it sink in. What a player. Scott, Hatton, and Kim all shot 64 or better, but it was not enough as Day came for the back 9 in 30 to seal the victory. 

The numbers have seen this win coming for a while, with Jason Day now sitting at number 7 overall in strokes gained total for the season, and number 9 in the datagolf rankings. His name had been floating to the top of leaderboards recently, he just wasn’t making the final push on Sunday. That changed in a massive way, as he fired a final round 62 to slam the door on the field. He’s always had the talent, as seen by his incredible run in 2015 with five wins including a major, it’s just that now his body is cooperating with him. After a series of swing changes to take the stress off his back, Jason Day is back. 

Looking at Jason Day’s resume now, I think people are really underappreciating the career he has had so far. With this win, he’s up to 13 on the PGA Tour with 2 WGC titles, 1 Major, and a win at The Player’s Championship. That’s quite the list and with the way he’s playing right now, his talent and mindset, he’s got to be on his way to a few more big wins. If he can crawl his win total up closer to 20 wins, and maybe another major or 2 he could be a sneaky legend of the game. There are some huge names around those totals and maybe we need to start looking at Jason Day perhaps as one of those guys and maybe even the best Australian player ever. He has a bit of a ways to go but those possibilities are certainly within reach.

At the end of a fun week, all eyes now head up to Rochester New York, and the intimidating Oak Hill Country Club. It’s that time again. Time for videos of the super long rough where the ball disappears into it. Time for manicured fairways and greens that just look a little bit different than the average weeks of the season. Time for roars that ring your ears, and make you feel that tingle in your soul. It’s time for the second major of the year.