Jason’s Day finally arrives
Tears of joy after maiden win in Majors as Spieth goes to No 1 and Grace is R8,7-million richer
GIVEN a third straight chance to finally win a Major, Jason Day promised a fight to the finish in the PGA Championship. Turns out the biggest fight was to hold back the tears.
Worried that this year might turn out to be a Major failure, Day never gave second-placed Jordan Spieth or South Africa’s Branden Grace, who finished third, a chance on Sunday. He delivered a record-setting performance at Whistling Straits that brought him a Major championship he started to wonder might never happen.
Day was in tears before he even tapped in for par and a five-under 67 for a three-shot victory. He sobbed on the shoulder of Colin Swatton, his caddie and longtime coach who rescued Day as a 12-year-old struggling to overcome the death of his father.
And then came high praise from Spieth in the scoring trailer when golf’s new No1 player told him, “There’s nothing I could do.”
“I didn’t expect I was going to cry,” Day said. “A lot of emotion has come out because I’ve been so close so many times and fallen short. To be able to play the way I did today, especially with Jordan in my group, was amazing.”
Three shots ahead with three holes to play on a course with trouble everywhere, Day blasted a drive down the fairway on the par-5 16th and hit a towering 4-iron into 20 feet. He bit his lower lip, swatted his caddie on the arm, knowing his work was almost done. The two-putt birdie put him at 20-under par, and two closing pars gave him the record to par in Majors, breaking by one shot the 19-under of Tiger Woods at St. Andrews in the 2000 British Open. Day finished at 20-under 268, not knowing until it was over that it was a record.
What really mattered was the shiny Wanamaker Trophy at his side. He had shared the 54-hole lead at the US Open and the British Open and had to watch someone else celebrate. Not this time.
Spieth gave it his best shot, but even the Masters and US Open champion could tell what he was up against the way the 27-year-old Australian powered one drive after another and didn’t let anyone closer than the two-shot lead with which he started the final round. “He played like he’d won seven or eight Majors,” Spieth said. “It was a stripe show.”
Spieth has the greatest consolation possible. With his runner-up finish, he replaced Rory McIlroy at No1 in the world. Spieth set a record of his own. By closing with a 68, he set a record by playing the four Majors in 54-under par, breaking by one the mark that Woods set in 2000.
Day moves to No 3 in the world, meaning the top three in the world are all under 27 and have combined to win five of the last six Majors.
Grace’s Major record for 2015, meanwhile, shows a missed cut (Masters) a share of fourth (US Open), a share of 20th (British Open) and now a third on 15-under 273, and the golfing world has been served notice that he will be a contender in the Majors for years to come.
Grace climbs to 20th in the world rankings while next best South African home on Sunday was his friend George Coetzee who carded a final-round 67 to share seventh place to complete a tournament which has showed conclusively that the next generation of South African golfers – after Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel – is ready to compete at the highest level. Grace earned $680 000 on Sunday, which equates to about R8,7-million.