Records Fall as Jason Day Wins PGA Championship
- Dan Hauser
- 16 Aug, 2015
Jason Day walked up to the 18th green with a three shot lead when he started to get emotional. If you think about it, there were so many reasons to for the Australian to be emotional about a win of this magnitude.
Day has been the almost man for a long time now. He’s been close in countless majors, only to have something happen and someone else walk away with the trophy.
Then there was the bad luck when it came to injuries and ailments. For his entire career, Day has had to deal with everything from injuries to health problems. Earlier this year at the U.S. Open, Day battled a case of vertigo during the third round and not only finished the round, but came back the next day and finished the tournament.
So when Day closed out the PGA Championship by three shots and began crying as he hugged his longtime caddie, coach, and mentor Cole Swatton, it was almost as if all those disappointments and what if’s just came flowing out of him.
“It’s an amazing feeling, just the work that I’ve put into my game ever since I was a 12-year-old kid, to be able to stand in front of a crowd like this today and win a PGA Championship is pretty special.” Day said.
Day not only won his first major, he won it in historic fashion. Day’s four day total of 20-under par set a record for lowest four day total in history. In addition, the 20-under score was one better then the winning scores of the previous two PGA Championships held at Whistling Straights combined. In 2010, Martin Kaymer won at 11-under, while Vijay Singh won at 8-under in 2004.
While Spieth missed out on the “American Slam” and winning three major championships in the same season, he set some records of his own. Spite finished all four majors with an aggregate total of 54-under par. That’s one better then the 53-under par major season that Tiger Woods had in 2000. That 54-under par aggregate total is also 19 shots better than Jason Day, who won the PGA Championship and finished runner up on that list.
Spieth’s second place finish also moved him past Rory Mcllroy and into the top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings, something that has always been a lifelong dream for the 22 year old.
“I accomplished one of my life-long goals in the sport of golf,” Spieth said. “That will never be taken away from me now. I’ll always be a No. 1 player in the world.”
Mcllroy, who had held the top spot for the past 52 weeks, wasn’t bitter about losing the top spot to Spieth.
“If he was to get to No. 1 today,” McIlroy said after finishing ahead of Day and Spieth, “I’d be the first to congratulate him because I know the golf you have to play to get to that spot, and it has been impressive this year.”
That’s exactly what Mcllroy did too. He sent out a tweet after the tournament saying “2 inevitable things happened today. Jason Day winning and major and Jordan Spieth getting to 1 in the world! Congrats guys!! Inspiring stuff!!!”
We will now have to wait 234 days until the 2016 major season kicks off. As we wrap up the 2015 edition, there is one thing that we can all agree on: it was quite historic.
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
