Jason Day is finally a major champion – wins 2015 PGA Championship!

Jason Day has broken records on his way to winning the 2015 PGA Championship by three strokes.

Jason Day has won the 2015 PGA Championship, beating Jordan Spieth by three strokes and became the first major champion to win with a score of 20-under par.

Day became the fifth Australian-born golfer to win the Wanamaker Trophy and the first since Steve Elkington won 20 years ago. Others to have won the PGA Championship are Jim Ferrier in 1947, David Graham in 1979 and Wayne Grady in 1990.

Congratulations to Jason Day, winner of the 97th PGA Championship!

Posted by PGA.com on Sunday, 16 August 2015

Day broke down in tears even before he made his final tap-in par putt at the 18th hole at Whistling Straits to give him the three shot victory.

On nine previous occasions at the majors, Day had finished in the top-10 without claiming the biggest prize – most recently his heart-breaking finish at The Open Championship at St Andrews and his courageous battle with vertigo at the US Open.

Day came racing out of the blocks, firing four birdies in his opening seven holes that playing partner Jordan Spieth couldn’t quite match. Everything looked to be going smoothly for Day but this is major golf and there will always be a hiccup along the way.

For Day it came on the ninth hole. After a bogey on the eighth hole after a poor drive, Day smashed his drive to a perfect position to attack the flag with a two shot lead. With Spieth chipping out of trouble and looking at a tough up and down, Day chunked his approach shot that weekend hackers would be familair with and suddenly it all looked a little shaky.

But Day has experienced major championship golf before. As Spieth’s par putt slid by, Day rattled home his par and a three stroke cushion was his again turning what could have easily been a low point into a huge confidence boost

Branden Grace and Justin Rose briefly flirted with putting pressure on Day, but a double-bogey on the 10th and 13th holes respectively blew any chance they had of winning. Grace looks set to win himself a major in the not too distant future. His outright third place adds to some great major performances in 2015; a tie for fourth place at the US Open and a T20 at The Open Championship.

Spieth missed a number of eight foot putts coming in – unusual for the young American who has now taken over Rory McIlroy’s position as the world’s number one ranked golfer. He was his usual fighting self though and was a magician from some tough positions around the greens.

Arguably Spieth’s most memorable shot of the back nine was his bunker shot on the par-5 16th that resulted in birdie to keep some pressure on Day. But it was pitch shots like this one that kept Day’s three stroke margin from blowing out further.

Day matched Spieth’s remarkable birdie on the par-5 16th hole with a majestic 4-iron that one could now consider the shot that assured his forst major victory. His ball found the fringe and an easy tap-in par sent Day to the 17th tee with a three shot lead.

Day would then take the same lead to the final hole after both he and Spieth could only manage par at the difficult par-3 17th hole and all that was left was for Jason Day to safely negotiate the treacherous 18th hole at Whistling Straits.

When the 27-year-old from Queensland smashed his seventh drive of the day over 300 yards, Australia had a new major golf champion.

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