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- September 21, 2015
Day’s fourth PGA Tour victory in the space of 51 days today propelled him not only to the top of golf’s world rankings, but also in contention for quite possibly the single richest payday by an Australian athlete ever.
We look at ten incredible facts from Day’s record-breaking run.
A MONSTER PAY DAY COULD BE COMING
Day’s $AUD2.06 million winner’s cheque at the BMW Championships has taken his 2015 prizemoney to a stunning $AUD12.75 million - and he could more than double it by next week.
The Australian is in line for a $AUD13.9 million pay day if he finishes atop the FedEx Cup rankings after the season-ending Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, beginning on Friday.
Jason Day of Australia, right, celebrates with family. Source: AP
Day is in first place with 6,680 points ahead of Spieth (4,392) and Ricky Fowler (3,958) although the points are partially reset for the season finale. In essence, if any one of the top five wins in Atlanta, he will win the big prize. Failing that scenario, another winner would rely on Day stumbling.
Should Day overcome the 30-man group and win the Tour Championship, he will take home an additional $AUD2.06 million in prizemoney on top of the $AUD13.9 million for winning the season-long FedEx Cup.
THE (SHORT) WAIT IS OVER
Australia waited 853 weeks to again reach the pinnacle of the world golf rankings after Greg Norman spent the last of his 331 weeks as the world No. 1 in January 1998.
That came in May 2014 when Adam Scott wrested the top ranking from Tiger Woods, thus ending the American’s 683 week reign.
Scott held the No. 1 ranking for 11 weeks before conceding to Rory McIlroy, who has since traded places with Jordan Spieth.
But Day has usurped them all, reaching the No. 1 ranking 59 weeks after Scott last held it.
Jason Day of Australia celebrates with his son Dash and wife Ellie. Source: Getty Images
YOUNGEST AUSSIE NO. 1
Day has become the youngest ever Australian to hold the No. 1 world ranking.
Greg Norman was 31 years, seven months and four days when he ascended to golf’s summit on September 14, 1986.
Adam Scott was 33 years, 10 months and two days when he got there on May 18, 2014.
Day was 27 years, nine months and nine days when he held aloft the BMW Championships trophy in Illinois and sealed his place in golfing history.
HE IS 101-UNDER OVER THE LAST 63 DAYS
St Andrews, Glen Abbey, Firestone Country Club, Whistling Straits, Plainfield Country Club, TPC Boston and Conway Farms have played host to an incredible period in Day’s career.
The Australian has shot 101-under in his last seven tournaments - The Open (-14), RBC Canadian Open (-17), WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (-3), PGA Championship (-20), The Barclays (-19), Deutsche Bank Championships (-6) and BMW Championships (-22).
His 20-under at Whistling Straits broke Woods’ all-time record for most shots under par in a major.
Jason Day of Australia celebrates with the winner's trophy. Source: Getty Images
... AND WHAT A RUN IT’S BEEN
Day has won four of his past six tournaments and, equally as impressively, has recorded three top ten finishes in majors.
He has managed all this in just an eight-tournament span.
Since June 21, Day has finished:
- tied for ninth at the US Open
- tied for fourth at The Open
- first at the RBC Canadian Open
- tied for 12th at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational
- first at the PGA Championships
- first at The Barclays
- tied for 12th at the Deutsche Bank Championships
- first at the BMW Championships.
A COMPLIMENT FOR THE AGES
“I actually think he’s playing superior golf to Tiger in 2000, as far as shooting low scores.”
That’s how Johnny Miller - former PGA pro and current golf analyst with CBS - rated Jason Day’s phenomenal run of form in 2015.
FURTHER PROOF HE IS IN TIGER TERRITORY
Day has joined Woods and Vijay Singh as the only players in the past 20 years to win five PGA Tour events in the same year.
That’s not bad, given Day had won only two PGA Tour tournaments in his previous eight years as a pro.
Day’s first PGA win came in 2010 at the AT&T Byron Nelson at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Dallas, where he held off a challenge from 16-year-old high school student Jordan Spieth.
Jason Day of Australia. Source: Getty Images
“I was walking to the fourth hole and it looked like there was a thousand people following him,” Day said at the time. “It took a little bit of pressure off my shoulders knowing that the good majority of the fans that were following me were close friends and family.”
He waited four more years until he again tasted PGA Tour success, this time at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championships at TPC Harding Park.
But the floodgates well and truly opened this year. Day won a four-way play-off at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in February against Harris English, JB Holmes and Scott Stallings.
He then took out the RBC Canadian Open, the PGA Championships, The Barclays and the BMW Championships within the space of 51 days.
Dash Day plays on the 18th green after his father, Jason Day of Australia, won. Source: Getty Images
THE STATS THAT MATTER
Day’s all-round game has helped him surge from eighth to the top of the world rankings this year.
A quick look at his 2015 statistical highlights leaves little doubt as to how he’s done it:
- He ranks third in average driving distance on tour (314.5),
- His birdie average (4.79) is better than anyone else on tour,
- He is second in scoring average (69.163).
BEST YEAR BY AN AUSSIE
No Australian has gone close to matching Day’s mark of five PGA Tour wins in a year.
Norman is the next best with three, which he achieved in 1986 and 1995.
MORE RECORDS
Day matched the all-time PGA Tour record of 124 strokes through his first 36 holes at the BMW Championships in Lake Forest, Illinois.
He also became just the fifth golfer in PGA Tour history to win at least four times in the span of six tournaments alongside Woods, Singh, Nick Price and Tom Weiskopf.
