It was only a matter of time before Jason Day won his first Major Championship. Over the years, he has been so close to breaking through the barrier – and none closer than in 2015 where he was in the final grouping at the US Open at Chambers Bay with Dustin Johnson and also one shot out of a playoff at the Open Championship at St. Andrews. Outside of the Major Championships though, Jason had found success this year winning early in the season at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and then at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. After so many close calls at the Majors though, he had extra motivation to perform at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Jason Day was paired with 22-year-old Jordan Spieth in the final grouping of the tournament on Sunday. Day started the final round at 15-under par and ended the tournament with a Major Championship record 20-under-par – it was the third straight Major in which Day had held at leasts a share of the 54-hole lead. He has finished in the top-10 six times since 2013 at Major Championships and is an excellent example of both mental and physical resilience and determination. This win is his fifth PGA TOUR victory and his third this year. It was a clinic of ball striking by Day as well as driving distance and accuracy as he held off Spieth, who was aiming to become the third man, and the first since Tiger Woods in 2000, to win three profesional Majors in the same year.
Jordan Spieth, like Rickie Fowler in 2014, finished in the Top-5 of all four Major Championships – the only difference being Spieth winning two of the four, with very real chances of winning all four. But although he finished second at the PGA Championship, his fine play throughout the year has allowed him to rise to World Number 1 in the Official Golf World Ranking, replacing Rory McIlroy. Spieth also broke Tiger Woods’ total Major Championship scoring record for a year, finishing 54-under par to Tiger’s 53-under par from 2000. However, Tiger was still 21 strokes better than the field versus Spieth’s 17.5 strokes throughout the year of Majors.
2 inevitable things happened today, @JDayGolf winning a major and @JordanSpieth getting to 1 in the world! Congrats guys!! Inspiring stuff!
— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) August 16, 2015
The most talked about player was perhaps Dustin Johnson, who put himself in such great positions in the Major Championships this year. After a heartbreaking three-putt on the 72nd hole at the US Open to miss a playoff and weekend rounds of 75-75 at the Open Championship to erase a week of brilliant driving, it would have made the perfect story if Johnson could have pulled out a victory at Whistling Straits, site of his bunker debacle in 2010. After playing well and leading after the first round, Johnson quickly faded and fell out of contention after strong play by the field. He started the final day at 9-under par, but had a lot of work to make up after a quadruple bogey (8) on the par-4 first hole. He ended up shooting 3-under par for the round though and finished the tournament T7 at 12-under par.
Other players that made a charge on Sunday included Brendan Grace, who was in contention at the US Open, Tony Finau, who is the cousin of Milwaukee Bucks’ star Jabari Parker, and long hitting Brooks Koepka. Justin Rose was also in the picture and contending again, but finished the tournament in fourth place at 14-under par. This is the second Major in 2015 that he’s finished at 14-under par, but among the two Majors, he has lost by a total of 10 strokes – what a crazy statistic!
And who could forget Tiger Woods, the 14-time major champion. He is a player that we keep rooting for and he’s shown flashes of his old self this year. He missed the cut this year at three straight Majors (US Open, Open Championship, PGA Championship) and has worked through rehab for a back surgery as well as a swing change. He will not qualify for this year’s FedEx Cup playoffs, which essentially ends his season – we most likely won’t see him for a couple of months, but hopefully, that will give him time to get his game sharp for the upcoming season. But even without Woods, golf is in a great place, with young golfers inspired by Woods and approaching the sport with fearlessness.
In addition to McIlroy, Day and Spieth, you have Rickie Fowler (PLAYERS Champion, Scottish Open Champion), Hideki Matsuyama, Brooks Koepka (WM Phoenix Open Champion) and a whole bunch of players in their 20’s who are ready to compete. And of course, you still have Rose, Dustin Johnson, Kaymer and others. The post-Tiger future does look bright in the sport of golf!
Source: PGA Championship
