Jason Day has achieved his most cherished ambition to become the world’s number one golfer by winning the BMW Championship by six shots in Illinois today.
“I’ve been under more pressure in the last two days than at any other time in my career. Apart from the importance of my family, being the best in the world has been an ambition for a long time, and now I’m world number one, it’s a phenomenal feeling,” a proud Day admitted.
At 27, Day is the youngest Australian to reach golf’s highest pinnacle. Greg Norman was 31 when he began his 331 weeks at the top, Adam Scott 34 for his 11 weeks as number one.
The BMW win was Day’s fifth of the season, and the fourth in his last six starts and Day’s the first to acknowledge the huge impact his coach-caddy Colin Swatton has had since Day’s turbulent teenage years after his Dad died.
The Day-Swatton combination began their phenomenal recent streak by winning the Canadian Open by a shot over Bubba Watson, carding 69 66 69 68 for 17-under, earning $1,044,000. Day fired in two eagles, 23 birdies, eight bogeys, and a double.
He then finished 12th in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational eight shots behind the winner Shane Lowry’s 11-under, carding 69 69 70 69 for 3-under earning $126,000. Day shot 13 birdies, seven bogeys, and a triple.
Day won his first major, the PGA Championship, with a record for any major of 20-under, beating Jordan Spieth by three shots, earning $1,800,000, and carding 68 67 66 67, that included two eagles, 25 birdies, seven bogeys, and a double.
Day backed up by capturing the Barclays by six shots over Henrik Stenson, earning of $1,485,000, carding 68 68 63 62 for 19-under, tht included an eagle, 21 birdies, and four bogeys.
Day then finished 12th at the Deutsche Bank, nine shots behind winner Rickie Fowler’s 15-under, earing $138,000, carding 68 68 73 69 for 6-under, that included 18 birdies, 10 bogeys, and a double.
The Australian returned to the winner’s list today by capturing the BMW, beating Daniel Berger by six shots, earning $1,485,000. He carded 61 63 69 69 for 22-under that included two eagles, 25 birdies, and seven bogeys
That translates to earnings of $5,077,000 in six tournaments for a total of 87-under that included seven eagles, 125 birdies, 43 bogeys, three doubles, and a triple.
Simply magnificent.
Day now leads the FedEx Cup standings by over 2200 points from Spieth, with the Tour Championship next up to take out the $10 million first prize, and head for South Korea October 8-11 to be the top-ranked International golfer in the Presidents Cup team under the captaincy of Nick Price against the Americans.
Jason Day is such a humble and gracious competitor he has gift-wrapped his playing assets to be a shining light for golf on the world sporting scene.
The same can be said of Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.
Golf has never had a trio of that calibre since the halcyon days of legends Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Jack Nicklaus who were at their peak before the world rankings began in April 1986.
Long may the current trio continue to be golf’s beacons as their absorbing battle continues to be ranked world number one.
Riddler
Guest
Mate he can write about what he wants.. You read if u want or don't.. And am happy he calls out a quality sportsmen and a nice guy for a change.. I for one am sick of overly precious 'me' syndrome sports people we are generally producing these days.. Can be a nice guy and a great sportsperson.. The two are not mutually exclusive.. Too many wannabe neverbes people and keyboard warriors protecting these fragile little spoilt egos with all the malarkey of u need to be an egoistic etc to be successful.. Seems like day can fit easily the character type of an eales, rafter, herbert etc of my generation.. Bring it on.. We need more..
jamesb
Guest
I do agree that beating 'The Shark's' weeks at number 1 will be difficult. But Day can beat Norman in a couple of other areas. Norman has two majors and 20 PGA tour wins. Day has one major and seven PGA tour wins. I'm confident that Day can beat Normans majors and PGA tour wins. He is still 27. BTW, he is already Australia's youngest world number 1 golfer. He is a good lad. A champion.
Grant Harding
Guest
Great to see Day reaching No.1. What a magnificent achievement especially when there are so many good golfers around him. Spectacular Jason, well done!
Joey Johns
Roar Guru
David, it's fantastic to see you writing about Golf. Zero clickbait, zero agenda, zero bias. It's so refreshing.
Matthew Russell
Roar Pro
What a champion Jason Day is. To be number at the moment with Jordan Spieth having the year he has had and also Rory lurking around is a massive achievement and shouldn't understated. I hope he can do what Adam Scott didn't is take advantage of his time up the top and win more majors
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Congrats to Jason, fantastic achievement and couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
Truly great Day!!!!! Hopefully he won't have much trouble beating Norman's 2 golfing majors. Beating his weeks at No 1 might be a little more difficult.
jamesb
Guest
Great Day for Australian golf and Australian sport. The way that he is going, he may well eclipse the career of Greg Norman.
cowcorner
Roar Pro
An Australian sportsman who makes you proud! Seemingly no overt ego, no silly statements and enjoys his golf and appreciates how fortunate he is!
Torchbearer
Guest
What a fantastic champion for golf and Australia. Obviously amitious and fierce in competition, but an all round good sport and great guy. Wish they could bottle the formula for some of our other leading sportsmen.
The artist formerly known as Punter
Guest
Amazing Day!!!! Jason Day is truly amazing, in winning the last 3 competitions he is beating the best the very & is deservedly no 1 in the world, what a player & a true champion on & off the field.