In the final major championship of the season, the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Australian Jason Day played a five-under-par final round to claim the championship. Jason Day also set a new record that day as the first player to finish at 20-under-par in a major. Jason’s victory also denied Jordan Spieth, now the No. 1- ranked PGA player, what would have been a third major for the season.
Jason Day was born in Beaudesert, Queensland. His father, Alvin, was an Irish-Australian, and his mother, Dening, was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia in the early 1980s. He has two siblings, Yanna and Kim. His father took him to Beaudesert Golf Club and enrolled him as a junior member just past his sixth birthday. He was allowed to play six holes a day as a junior. At the age of eight, his family moved to Rockhampton, and during this period he began to win events in the surrounding districts. Alvin Day died of stomach cancer when Jason was 12.
After his father died, Jason got into all sorts of trouble. It was then his mother was advised to send him to Kooralbyn International School, where he had to fend for himself. But there was a golf course beside it. When Kooralbyn school closed down, he went to Hills International College, where they have a golf academy, at the behest of his coach, Col Swatton. Day borrowed a book about Tiger Woods from his roommate, and it inspired him to improve his golf by practising in the early morning, at lunchtime, and in the evening. He used the book’s reports of Woods’ scores as his benchmark for improvement and as a reachable standard. His first big win was at the age of 13 in a 2000 Australian Masters junior event on the Gold Coast.
Jason married Ellie Harvey in 2009. The couple lives in Westerville, Ohio. They have one son and are expecting another child.
In November 2013, eight of Jason Day’s relatives in the Philippines, including his grandmother, died during Typhoon Haiyan.
WIKIPEDIA
What a year for Jason Day! Following his stunning 20-under PGA Championship win, Jason Day staged another impressive 19-under performance at the Barclay’s in New Jersey for a back-to-back victory. All the best in his bid to be World Number 1. If he clinches it, Jason Day will be only the third Australian, following Greg Norman and Adam Scott, to enjoy the world’s top ranking in the history of the sport. After winning the Barclay, he is now ranked world number three, behind Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. In the FedEx Cup standings, on the other hand, as of 1st September, he is 400 points ahead of Jordan Speith and is on everyone’s top 5 list to win Player of the Year. — ThePinoyStrayan
