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Queenslander Jason Day wins HP Byron Nelson Classic
Mon, 24 May 2010Day belongs to Jason at Byron Nelson
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship | Round Four | 24 May 2010
Queenslanders made it two from two in Texas when 22 year old Jason Day won the HP Byron Nelson Championship at Las Colinas in Dallas just seven days after Adam Scott had won the Texas Open in San Antonio.
In a final day full of nerves, tension and drama, Day held on to win by two over PGA Tour rookie Blake Adams, Jeff Overton and Brian Gay but it took until the final green to determine if Day would win his first PGA Tour event.
Day started the final day with a two shot lead over Blake Adams but started shakily at the first when his approach was hit a little fat and found the front bunker. Day quickly recovered with birdies at the 2nd and 4th but four holes later he was 2 over for the day and tied with Adams.
When Adams birdied the 10th he had the lead for the first time but Day birdied the short par four 11th and then the almost holed his approach at the 12th and was back in charge. He was never headed again but at the last hole he appeared to open the door for the American.
Day took an iron from the tee to avoid the water that had caused him so much grief all week.
“I was trying to focus on the shot at hand, and I hit kind of a chunky 3-iron down the last hole down to the right and had a 205 pin with a wind into me. I just wanted to lay up that right side, and it rolled a little bit and fortunately it got across the line, and I was surprised that Blake followed me into the water as well, and that took a little bit of pressure off my shoulders.”
Adam apparently was unaware that Day had found the water and perhaps took too much of a gamble from the right hand trees. “To be honest with you, I didn’t know that he was in the water. It wouldn’t have mattered because my shot was the same shot. If he was sitting there 2 feet or I had one option. So I hit the same shot – I actually couldn’t fire at the flag, but I was going kind of middle of the green and it just came out a little awkward. It went in the water.”
It was a week that might not have been for Day as so ill was he from Chronic Sinus and the necessary medication that he was in a bad state on Thursday.
“Yeah, like I said the first day, I was on the range and I thought about pulling out of the tournament,” said Day after his round. “I just tried to fight through it for the first couple of holes just to see if I was going to pull out of the tournament, just to see if I was going to feel sick on the course but, you know, as the week went on, my health got better.”
The double at the last cost Adams outright second position but he eventually shared that position with Brian Gay and Jeff Overton. Adams though is destined to win before too long on the PGA Tour having recorded a superb season on the nationwide Tour in 2009.
Day arrived in the US in 2006 as an 18 year old with serious amateur credentials behind him.
Many were touting him as a future star and rightfully so but the PGA Tour has a way of sorting you out and bringing you back to earth quickly. All the same, Day did well in that first season gaining invites to play in seven events and recording two top twenties in the process.
He was not able to play his way onto the PGA Tour that year and at the Q School late in 2006 he earned only conditional status for the 2007 Nationwide Tour.
Twelve months later as a result of a brilliant year as a 19 year old on the Nationwide Tour he had his PGA Tour card, finishing 5th on the money list and in the process becoming the youngest player to win a Nationwide Tour event after securing the Legend Financial Group Classic.
Day did enough in 2008 to retain limited playing rights for 2009 and last year earned more than US$1.25 million. With this win he will clearly make a big jump from his current 171st in the world ranking and his future, which has always looked bright, is now even more so.
To a large extent this was a home game for Day as he makes his home in the Fort Worth area. He gets to play next week’s Colonial Invitational at the Colonial Country Club even closer to home.
The stocks of Australian golfers look particularly bright right now with Scott, Day, Leishman and Sim all in their 20’s and threatening even greater deeds then they have already.
Speaking of Leishman who could well be the next Australian to win on the PGA Tour, he made a big move today to get to 9 under with five holes to play before dropping four shots over the closing stages to finish 12th.
Steve Elkington 16th and Michael Sim 23rd were the next best of the Australasians but the day belonged to Jason.
