Georgie Bingham: Day on Mother’s Day was touching and timely
Jason Day of Australia is presented with the trophy after winning the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch on May 14, 2023 in McKinney, Texas. (Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)
As Jason Day did a Rory this weekend and won his first tournament in a well-overdue minute, I reflected on the journey he’s been on since his almost untouchable period in 2015/16. It’s been more than 7 long years since then and and although he did pick up a few wins since - his last in 2018, he’s really been through the mill in 5 years.
Winning on Mother’s Day when his own lost her long battle against cancer in the last year - I reflected that one of the reasons I like Day and find myself empathising with him so much is him is his vulnerability. He has never been afraid to vocalise what’s going on in his life and he gives us an insight into how horribly hard golf is as a sport that demands physical AND mental perfection. Day has suffered with trials in both, overcoming back problems that have flared up with alarming regularity and then with the trials of his mother’s illness and passing. It’s a treat to see him prevail in a really competitive final day; he was almost perfect in every way, and when he wasn’t his recovery shot was.
My other reflection from the final day in Texas is that despite criticism of the PGA Tour idea to make some events marquee and others lower tier is that the cream will always comes to the top. The leaderboard behind Day was PACKED with young exciting talent that pushed the Australian to the final few holes at the Byron Nelson. Critics of the process say youngsters and lower ranked golfers will struggle to make their mark and to go further and get into the top tier - but I’d argue that the likes of Austin Eckroat who qualified himself for all the full 2024 schedule and moved up to 77 in the Fedex standings with his tie for second could easily make moves into the top tier in time. (Eckroat would need to make the top 50 in the Fedex standings to make that mark.). Isn’t it always the way that if you are good enough it’ll happen?
Bring on the PGA Championship; always the hardest major for me to call. My record for predicting the winner of this tournament is absolutely wretched so I shan’t even try. I can’t even tell you how many times I have failed in my mission to call this but I will predict that JT might explode with pressure at defending his crown. And, as normal ’ll be in the Rory or Rahm camp if either of them show obviously.
