MANILA, Philippines - When it sunk in on him with a tap-in par to secure the PGA crown, Jason Day unabashedly broke into tears for finally realizing his dream for a major title.
But it didn’t come easy. It was sort of a rollercoaster ride in the past – losing his father at 12, enduring hardship at an early age with a brave Filipino mom and losing his grandmother and seven relatives in the catastrophic Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 in Tacloban.
They were so poor then that his Filipino mother Dening had to sell their house so he, then showing signs of golfing potential, could go to a golf academy.
But with $1.8 million winnings for his first major feat at the PGA Championship and millions more in earnings on the course the last nine years, Jason Day could now purchase even the most expensive houses in upscale sites anywhere in the world.
Simply put, the Fil-Aussie’s day has come.
Day fired a five-under 67 to thwart and beat Jordan Spieth by three and his four-day total of 20-under 268 at Whistling Straits broke the previous 72-hole low in a major of 19-under par set by Tiger Woods in the 2000 British Open.
“I was so excited, I was so proud of him,” said his mom in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Monday.
The elder Day was at work and missed watching his son clinch the biggest win of his golfing career but nevertheless shared his son’s latest feat.
“It’s a culmination of all his hard work. It’s been a long time coming for him,” said Dening Day.
It was also a triumph over adversity.
Growing up in Beaudesert, Queensland, Day took the wrong side of the tracks after his Australian father Alvin, who introduced him to golf when he was six, died of cancer in 1999.
He was already drinking at 12 and regularly getting in street fights with the thugs. But his mom, seeing his son’s potential, did what she could to let him pursue his dream of becoming a pro golfer.
And the discipline and work ethic Dening instilled in her son has helped make him become one of the top golfers in the world.
But it tough.. In fact, Day had to buck overwhelming odds to earn his place in the elite circle of major winners.
“It’s pretty well documented that Jason could have been on the wrong side of the tracks when he was 12 and that’s true,” said Day’s childhood coach and current caddie Colin Swatton in an AP report. “He could easily have gone the other way. He would have wound up in a totally different spot.”
When Day was 12, Swatton took a job at Hills International College and talked Jason into attending the classes with Dening forced to take a second job to pay for his tuition.
The sacrifice appeared to have paid off as Day went on to become one of the world’s top players while racking up nearly $21 million in earnings since he turned pro in 2006.
But more tragedy struck the Day family when in November 2013, Dening’s mother and seven other relatives in Leyte perished in the deadly Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).
But Day rose from adversity, winning the individual crown in the World Cup weeks later in Melbourne and carrying his partnership with Adam Scott to the team championship.
“If I didn’t have those failures, I wouldn’t be standing here today with the trophy. Some people get there quicker than others, some people make it look easier than others, and I’m just glad that it’s finally happened, because it was kind of wearing on me a little bit,” said Day, finally shedding off the tag as the best golfer to never win a major.– With AP reports