Jason Day’s Rise to the Top: A Story of Success and Loss

Jason Day has traveled a long road from his Queensland childhood to the top of the world rankings.

Jason Day is currently ranked at number two in the world golf rankings. Day has been on the of the top players in golf for quite some time now. But, if you want to understand how Day became a success on the PGA TOUR, you have to get to know where he came from.

Early Life

Day was born in Queensland, Australia. He started playing golf at the age of six when his father enrolled him in the junior academy at the local golf club. Day started playing competitively from the age of seven. When Day was 12 years old, his father passed away from stomach cancer.

To distract himself from the thought of his father’s death, Day started to drink alcohol and constantly got into trouble at school. He still kept golfing and he met his coach and current caddie Colin Swatton at the golf club where he used to play and hit balls. With the help of Swatton, Day began to have a lot of success.

Professional Career

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In 2007, at the age of 19, Day became the youngest player to win a Nationwide Tour event. He received his PGA TOUR card in 2008 and recorded his first tour victory in 2010 at the HP Byron Nelson with a final score of 10 under par. Since then, Day has gone on to win nine more titles on the PGA Tour including one major win at the PGA Championship in 2015 at Whistling Straits golf course.

In his nine other PGA Tour wins, Day has won two World Golf Championships. He won his first one in 2014 at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship beating out Frenchman Victor Dubuisson in 23 holes. His other WGC victory came at the WGC-Dell Match Play tournament where he defeated South African Louis Oosthuizen five and four.

Day has also won two PGA Tour playoff events. He won the Barclays tournament in August of 2015 shooting a 19 under par 261. Less than one month later, he won the BMW Championship shooting a 22 under par 262. At Whistling Straits, Day, while Jordan Spieth was looking for three consecutive major wins, Day held him off shooting a 20 under par 268, beating Spieth by three strokes.

Challenges & Successes

On new year’s day 2017, Day announced that he would sign with Nike. He signed a contract with Nike reportedly worth $10 million.

On the course Day has struggled this season. He finished in a tie for 12th at the SBS Tournament of Champions in January and most recently finished in a tie for 64th at the Genesis Open last week.

Day started feeling the pressure of the number one ranking last week and told Golfweek’s Geoff Shackelford, ““I mean, it is more of a pride thing at the end of your career, you want to know how many weeks you were at number one.”

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Day deserves to be at the top as he competes at a high level. His golf swing is smooth, but life wasn’t always smooth for him. Now though, Day has changed it around and hopefully we can watch him contend for many more tournaments to come.