Jason Day

Jason Day Bio

Jason Anthony Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He captured his first major championship at the 2015 PGA Championship, reached the world number one ranking in September 2015, and has spent 51 weeks at the top of the Official World Golf Ranking. Across his career, Day has won 13 PGA Tour events, including the 2016 Players Championship, and has added titles on the European Tour, the Korn Ferry Tour, and various other tours.

Early Life and Background

Day was born in Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia, and grew up in a sporting household. His father, Alvin, was Irish Australian, and his mother, Dening, migrated from the Philippines to Australia in the early 1980s. He has two siblings, Yanna and Kim, and his father introduced him to the game at the Beaudesert Golf Club, enrolling him as a junior member just after his sixth birthday. As a junior, he was allowed to play six holes a day.

When Day was eight, the family moved to Rockhampton, and he began winning events in the surrounding districts. His father, Alvin, died of stomach cancer when Jason was 12, which shaped a difficult but determined childhood. After that loss, Day’s mother sent him to Kooralbyn International School in the Gold Coast hinterland, which had a golf course attached, and he later transferred to Hills International College, where he worked with coach Col Swatton, who became a central figure in his development.

Inspired by a borrowed book about Tiger Woods, Day built a strict practice routine of early-morning, lunchtime, and evening sessions, using Woods’s tournament scores as his benchmark. His first big win came at age 13 in a 2000 Australian Masters junior event on the Gold Coast, where he carded rounds of 87, 78, 76, and 76 to claim the title.

Path to Golf

As an amateur, Day was twice awarded the Australian Junior Order of Merit and finished seventh at the Queensland Open as the leading amateur. In 2004, he won the Australian Boys’ Amateur and the Boys 15–17 division at the Callaway World Junior Championship in the United States, and he was runner-up at the 2005 Porter Cup. He was also a member of the Golf Australia National Squad.

In 2005, Day lost in a playoff at the Greater Building Society Queensland PGA Championship, a professional event on the Von Nida Tour, falling to Scott Gardiner on the fourth extra hole. The strong amateur results convinced him to turn professional in July 2006, when he signed with TaylorMade and Adidas and began playing PGA Tour events through sponsor exemptions. He won the Green Jacket at the NEC Master of the Amateurs in the same month he turned pro.

Jason Day Career

Early Career (2006–2010)

Day made the cut in five of his first six PGA Tour starts as a professional, with a best finish of eleventh at the Reno-Tahoe Open and more than $160,000 in official winnings. He advanced through qualifying rounds to the PGA Tour qualifying school finals but failed to earn his 2007 card, settling for conditional status on the Nationwide Tour instead.

In July 2007, Day won the Legend Financial Group Classic on the Nationwide Tour, becoming the youngest man to win on any of the PGA Tour’s three tours. He finished fifth on the Nationwide Tour money list to earn his PGA Tour card for 2008, retained his card with a runner-up finish at the 2009 Puerto Rico Open, and in May 2010 became the youngest Australian to win a PGA Tour event by capturing the HP Byron Nelson Championship. A late-season run of form, including top-five finishes in the first two FedEx Cup playoff events, helped him finish 21st on the PGA Tour money list.

PGA Tour Breakthrough (2011–2014)

Day’s profile grew with a series of major championship near-misses. At the 2011 Masters Tournament, he birdied the last two holes to tie for second, setting the Masters record for the lowest score by a first-time participant at 12-under par. He followed that with a solo second at the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, eight strokes behind runaway winner Rory McIlroy, and moved into the world’s top 10 for the first time.

Day continued to contend in majors in 2013, finishing third at the Masters after a closing 70 and tying for second at the U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club alongside Phil Mickelson, two strokes behind Justin Rose. In February 2014, he won his first World Golf Championship event, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, defeating Victor Dubuisson in a dramatic final that included extra-hole scrambles. The win lifted him to fourth in the world rankings.

Major Champion and World #1 (2015)

Day opened 2015 with a victory at the Farmers Insurance Open, beating Harris English, J. B. Holmes, and Scott Stallings in a four-way playoff, and added the RBC Canadian Open later in the summer after birdieing the last three holes. At the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, he produced rounds of 68-67-66-67 to finish at 20-under par, three strokes ahead of Jordan Spieth, and set the record for the lowest total in a major championship.

He followed his major breakthrough with playoff wins at The Barclays and the BMW Championship, and the BMW victory on 20 September 2015 moved him to world number one for the first time. He entered the Tour Championship as the FedEx Cup leader but finished tied for tenth, with Spieth winning the FedEx Cup and retaking the number one ranking.

Sustained Excellence (2016–2018)

Day began 2016 with a wire-to-wire win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where four sub-par rounds delivered a one-shot victory over Kevin Chappell. A week later, he captured the WGC-Dell Match Play in Austin, beating Louis Oosthuizen 5 and 4 in the final to overtake Spieth at world number one. He completed the run with a four-stroke, wire-to-wire victory at the 2016 Players Championship, his 10th PGA Tour title, and by July 2016 had earned more than $33 million in PGA Tour prize money.

After a winless 2017 season, Day split from his longtime caddie and “father figure” Colin Swatton in September 2017, with Swatton staying on as his swing coach. In January 2018, he won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines for the second time, beating Alex Noren in a six-hole sudden-death playoff, and in May added the Wells Fargo Championship for his 12th and 13th PGA Tour victories.

Comeback Era (2019–2023)

Day battled chronic back pain through 2019 and briefly worked with Tiger Woods’s former caddie, Steve Williams, before the pair parted ways in August 2019. He won The Challenge: Japan Skins event in October 2019 over Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Hideki Matsuyama but withdrew from the Presidents Cup with a back injury.

In May 2023, Day won the AT&T Byron Nelson by one shot for his first victory in five years, returning to the winner’s circle at the site of his first PGA Tour triumph. Later that year, he finished runner-up at the 2023 Open Championship, completing a “runner-up grand slam” in the four majors, and won the inaugural Grant Thornton Invitational mixed team event with partner Lydia Ko in December 2023.

Driving Style and Strengths

Day is known for an aggressive, ball-striking-focused approach that has produced a streak of consecutive sub-par rounds during peak seasons. He has combined that offense with strong match-play play, and his partnership with swing coach Col Swatton has remained central to his technical foundation even after other caddie and team changes.

Notable Events and Milestones

Signature moments include his record-setting 20-under-par victory at the 2015 PGA Championship, his wire-to-wire Players Championship win in 2016, and a six-hole sudden-death playoff victory at the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open. He also won the WGC-Accenture Match Play in 2014 and the WGC-Dell Match Play in 2016, making him one of only a few players to capture both World Golf Championship match-play titles.

Jason Day Career Wins

Day has recorded 19 professional wins across multiple tours, including 13 on the PGA Tour, 3 on the European Tour, 1 on the Korn Ferry Tour, and 5 in other events. His PGA Tour titles span major championships, World Golf Championships, the Players Championship, and invitational events, complemented by a deep run of runner-up finishes in the four majors.

PGA Tour Highlights

Day’s 13 PGA Tour wins include the 2015 PGA Championship, the 2016 Players Championship, the 2016 Arnold Palmer Invitational, the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open, the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship, the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open, the 2015 RBC Canadian Open, the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship, the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, the 2014 WGC-Accenture Match Play, the 2016 WGC-Dell Match Play, the 2015 The Barclays, and the 2015 BMW Championship. He also won the 2007 Legend Financial Group Classic on the Nationwide Tour, the venue where he became the youngest winner on any of the PGA Tour’s three tours.

Other Wins & Performances

Beyond his PGA Tour successes, Day has won three European Tour events and added a 2019 win at The Challenge: Japan Skins over Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and Hideki Matsuyama, plus the 2023 Grant Thornton Invitational alongside Lydia Ko. His major championship record also features a runner-up finish at the 2023 Open Championship, the final piece of his “runner-up grand slam.”

Jason Day Family

Family Background and Racing Lineage

Day comes from a blended cultural background, with an Irish Australian father, Alvin, and a mother, Dening, who migrated from the Philippines to Australia in the early 1980s. He has two siblings, Yanna and Kim, and his late father introduced him to golf at the Beaudesert Golf Club when he was a young child.

Personal Life

Day married Ellie Harvey of Lucas, Ohio, in 2009, and the couple have five children. The family has lived in Westerville, Ohio, and previously in Forest Lake, Queensland, as well as in Orlando, Florida, and Fort Worth, Texas. In November 2013, eight of Day’s relatives in the Philippines, including his grandmother, died during Typhoon Haiyan.

2025 Season Performance

Day opened the 2025 campaign with a strong start, showing the form that carried him back into the world’s top 20 after his 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson win. He made cuts consistently in early-season events, leaning on improved health and a refined practice routine with longtime swing coach Col Swatton. A series of solid top-25 finishes on the West Coast Swing helped him maintain momentum heading into the Florida swing.

Through the spring, Day has paired that steady play with selective appearances in the signature events, where he has continued to show flashes of the ball-striking that once made him the world’s top-ranked player. The 2025 majors are a focal point, as he looks to add to his 2015 PGA Championship and convert more of his major-championship experience into contention. He has also balanced tournament play with family time at his Westerville, Ohio home, where he lives with Ellie and their five children.

Looking ahead through the FedEx Cup playoffs, Day’s outlook depends on staying healthy and qualifying for the limited-field signature events. A return to the winner’s circle in 2025 would further cement his comeback narrative and add to the 13 PGA Tour titles he has already accumulated since 2010.