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Jason Day: When should we expect that first major title?

By Randy Holt

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Throughout the world of golf few players have generated the type of consistency that Jason Day has delivered. It seems that regardless of the venue and the scale of each tournament, Day finds a way to work himself into contention from weekend to weekend, which makes it really no surprise whatsoever that he currently holds the no. 4 overall spot in the world rankings.

There’s just one thing missing: a major title.

For the 27-year-old Day, there’s obviously a tremendous amount of time for that first title at a major tournament to come his way, but when you have a golfer that has come as close as Day has on as many occasions as he has, you have to wonder if it’ll happen soon. And given what we’ve seen from him in 2015, his performances throughout the year should bode well for him moving forward.

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Overall, 2015 has represented easily the zenith of Jason Day’s career to this point. He has a pair of wins for the year — half of his career W’s — and seven top 10 finishes on his way to achieving that fourth overall world ranking, the highest he’s been in his career. That’s through just 14 events, so there’s opportunity for him to eclipse a number of his career marks across the board.

But focusing particularly on the major tournaments, Day still hasn’t managed to capture that elusive first title. He’s certainly had his opportunities, including a couple this year. He finished ninth at Chambers Bay in what was one of the gritter performances we’ve seen in recent memory. Battling vertigo, Day made a run on Saturday before fading back on Sunday. At St. Andrews last month, Day lingered at the top of the leaderboard throughout the weekend, finishing with a fourth place finish.

Across his six years, Day has finished the weekend in 17 of 23 majors, with the PGA Championship still to be played in 2015. His finishes include the following:

  • Masters: 2011-2nd, 2013-3rd, 2014-T20th, 2015-T28th
  • U.S. Open: 2011-2nd, 2012-T59, 2013-T2nd, 2014-T4th, 2015-T9th
  • Open Championship: 2010-T60th, 2011-T30th, 2013-T32nd, 2014-T58th, 2015-T4th
  • PGA Championship: 2010-T10th, 2013-T8th, 2014-T15th

Obviously in some instances, such as the U.S. Open and Open Championship, context would appear to be important as tournaments move around. At the same time, Day’s success in 2013 and 2014 at the U.S. Open doesn’t necessarily provide a basis for predicting a potential win in the future because 2013 was at Merion Golf Club while 2014 was at Pinehurst. In fact, all four of his strong U.S. Open appearances came on very different courses, with very different lengths, and very different setups.

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    • But his consistent success at the U.S. Open does say something about where we might expect his success to come, in terms of finally getting over that hump and winning a major title. His last two years at Augusta don’t provide much of a basis for us to declare his first major might come at the Masters.

    Beyond his 2015 performance, Day hasn’t fared particularly well across the pond at any Open Championship either. Despite missing the cut twice at the PGA Championship, though, we’ve seen Day turn in some solid performances. Could the upcoming festivities at Whistling Straits be his opportunity?

    If not, the U.S. Open would appear to be his best crack at that first major title. Day has a history of success in U.S. Opens, with venues typically selected that play well to his style. The third longest driver on the tour, averaging 309.7 yards, bombing it out there can pay off in the U.S. Open, and we’ve seen it from Jason Day thus far in his short time on tour. Courses such as those featured at the Open Championship or PGA don’t necessarily play to his strengths quite like U.S. Open courses typically do.

    As such, one would expect that Jason Day should not only seal the deal in a major title in the very near future, but he could be running the table at U.S. Opens in the very near future.

    Randy Holt is a staff writer for Pro Golf Now. You can follow him on Twitter @RandallPnkFloyd.

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