Jason Day takes golf’s No. 1 ranking
Jason Day has become the youngest Australian world No.1 after winning for the fourth time in six starts at the BMW Championship.
Day dominated from his opening round 61 at Conway Farms Golf Club, going wire-to-wire by closing with a two-under-69 to be 22 under for the tournament, six clear of his nearest rival.
Sitting back at world No.9 after missing a playoff at the British Open by a shot in mid July, Day has gone on an absolute tear – winning the Canadian Open, the PGA Championship (for his maiden major win), the opening FedEx Cup playoff event at the Barclays and now the third playoff event at the BMW Championship.
He leapfrogs Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy into top spot and at 27 years, 10 months and eight days smashes Greg Norman’s mark of the youngest Australian to be the world’s best.
Norman was 31 years, seven months, 14 days old when he was on top for the first of 331 weeks in his career while Adam Scott was 33 when he ruled the golfing world for 11 weeks in 2014.
Ridiculed and hammered when he voiced his dream as a 19-year-old rookie to become world No.1, Day has finally given his critics a serve of humble pie and looks set to fight with McIlroy and Spieth at the top for years to come.
American rookie Daniel Berger (69) finished second at 16 under, Scott Piercy (70) was third at 15 under with Rickie Fowler (69), JB Holmes (68) and McIlroy (70) sharing fourth at 14 under.
Day’s six-shot overnight lead was down to five when he teed off but despite the fact he missed makeable birdie chances on four of his opening seven holes no serious challenger emerged in the early stages.
A birdie on the eighth pushed his lead to seven but he three-putted the ninth for bogey and then had a run of six pars, allowing Berger to pull within four.
But a birdie on the 16th effectively sewed things up for the Queenslander and his dream was realised two holes later with a closing birdie.
It is by far the best season of golf by an Australian since Norman had three US wins and two in Europe in 1986, including the British Open.
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Day now heads to the 30-man season ending Tour Championship in top spot on the season-long FedEx Cup points list, ensuring a win at East Lake Golf Club will see him claim the $US10 million bonus.
Matt Jones finished his efforts with a four-under-67 to finish at seven under par, but it was not enough to survive.
Steven Bowditch, who finished with a 68 to be five under, is the only other Australian to join Day, locking up starts at the Masters (already in), US Open and British Open in 2016 in the process.
– AAP
