“To be able to play the way I did, especially in tough conditions with Jordan [Spieth] in my group, I could tell he was the favourite”. “To be honest, I have no idea where I would be, what I would be doing”. “I could have done a little bit more but it would have been hard to shoot 8-under and to go 15-under on the weekend”. That was up until yesterday’s dominant performance here as he wiped away his frustration to win with the lowest total against par in the history of majors at 20-under – good enough for a three-stroke victory over Speith.
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Spieth, the Masters and U.S. Open champion, had to settle for second after closing with a 68 and securing the number one ranking for the first time, at the expense of Rory McIlroy.
Jason Day with his Wanamaker Trophy.
“To be honest, the kid just doesn’t go away”, Day said of his closest pursuer. “It just seems that a flip has been switched”.
“I probably would have hit 3-wood in that scenario, just to keep it in play”, Spieth said.
He had to battle vertigo at the US Open earlier this year to take a lead. He changed his diet and has undertaken a strict workout regimen with South African trainer Cornel Driessen, who helped relieve Day’s back pain. Momentum is crucial in golf and, although the Englishman should still be satisfied with his third place finish, Rose will lament this missed opportunity.
Round of the day: Day made four birdies – at Nos.
Although a major win eluded Day until Sunday, it was apparent that he was inching ever closer. I was trying to hold back tears over the first putt. “Because it means that he left everything out there on the golf course and my play this week was just so much better; well, better than everyone else”. Neither player in competing in the upcoming Wyndham Championship, and Spieth is projected to remain No. 1 by 0.05 points. Nobody will say he took the easy route.
As Day’s stock has climbed, Woods has become an afterthought in the sport.
From his birdie from a bunker at the second hole, Day was off and running, leaving Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth and the rest of the field in the shade. Since 2010 he had been in the top five of a major through 54 holes seven times before this week without winning.
He cried like a baby at the end, which must have been confusing for his infant son Dash, who rushed on to the final green to congratulate dad, as is the custom these days. If it wasn’t me, I was kind of pulling for Jason. Great dude and well deserved. Woods finished at 19-under when he captured the 2000 British Open at St. Andrews.
“You only get four a year”.
Across the week, Day finished an astonishing -14 on the par 5’s.
Day, a fan favourite in the PGA Tour because of his play and personality, became the first professional golfer ever to finish 20-under par at a major and the first Australian to win the PGA title since Steve Elkington in 1995. Grace was tied for the lead at the U.S. Open when he hit his tee shot on the railroad tracks and out-of-bounds at Chambers Bay.
Adam Scott went on to win. “Even though I feel like I’m a positive person, I think that in the back of my mind something would have triggered and I would have gone, ‘Maybe I can’t really finish it off'”.
“You want to be in it all the time”.
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The win takes Jason Day off the dreaded “never won a major list” and into the realm of the golfing greats.
