Jason Day of Australia poses with the Wanamaker trophy and PGA President Derek Sprague at Whistling Straits on August 16, 2015 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
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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.
Northern Irishman McIlroy, now aged 26, won the last two majors of 2014 and the remarkable Spieth, who celebrated his 22nd birthday last month, clinched the first two majors this year before tying for fourth at the British Open and finishing second behind Day at the PGA Championship on Sunday.
As soon as he rolled his birdie putt to within inches of the 18th hole on Sunday to make absolutely certain of his first major title after numerous near-misses, Day was in tears as the enormity of his achievement hit home.
But Day has all the attributes needed to go on from here and win several more, not least hunger: he loves it and you can see he loves it. He is very much still improving and this could just get the ball rolling. “I’ll always be a number one player in the world“, said Spieth, the second-youngest to ascend the summit behind Woods, who was 21 when he first reached number one in 1997.
Jason Day finally tasted Major success at Whistling Straits this weekend as he held off new World No. 1 Jordan Spieth by three strokes. He played some marvellous golf and I don’t think anybody would have caught him this week. “This is as easy a loss as I’ve ever had because felt that I not only couldn’t do much about it, as the round went on, I also accomplished one of my life-long goals in the sport of golf“, Spieth said.
Spieth started the day trailing Day by two and ended up losing by three. “Here we did what we could and it wasn’t enough because Jason just played that good“. Rory McIlroy, 26, had to stand along the sidelines but will obviously be coming back with new determination now that he’s lost his No. 1 ranking.
Day’s birdie on No. 7 extended his lead to four shots over Spieth.
By closing with a 68, he finished with a 54-under total in this year’s majors, one better than the mark set by Woods in 2000.
“As long as I look at it that way, there’s still a lot to work hard for and play for and reset, ” he said.
And he added; “I’ve had no discomfort at all. It’s going to be a lot of fun over the next five to 10 years”.
“If I’m looking at it as a whole, I feel like I’ve done well to come back and shoot the scores that I have”, said Rory.
“Just to be able to finish the way I did was amazing”.
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“The path that I was on (it) was never expected for me to be here where I was today”, an emotional Day told reporters after keeping at bay American world Jordan No2 Spieth as he posted a Major record low of 20-under 268.
