Jason Day's Record-Breaking Maiden Major Championship

20 FEATURE DAY DREAM 21 Day and Swatton embrace following the emotional victory Day Dream JASON DAY’S RECORD-BREAKING MAIDEN EARLY INSPIRATION and breaking the record for the lowest Day also believed in the wisdom and “HE TOLD ME IT’S 72-hole score in a Major (20-under). MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP WAS BUILT ON BELIEF experience of his coach/caddy, PGA It’s a feat that places the boy from Member Colin Swatton, who has NOT OVER YET, Beaudesert’s name with the greatest been there from close enough to the WE’VE STILL GOT players in the history of the game. BY KALON HUETT beginning to know how easily this “Looking back on it, Tiger Woods, might never have happened. Forget TO GRIND IT OUT, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Majors, Jason Day could have been the Player, Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, best player never to win anything. WE’VE STILL GOT Bobby Jones – just some of the names T IS GOLF’S MOST UNWANTED He believed that a string of top-10 I’ve played in the Majors. ‘When is he “I was a kid that didn’t really like to that have touched a golf club, walked TAG: best players never to win a finishes and heartbreaking close calls in going to get one? Is he going to get that listen, but needed that guidance. Col TO FIGHT” the golf courses that I’ve walked, but Major. With every frustrating near Major championships were evidence his monkey off his back? Is he going to do would scold me every now and then, I’ve got the record. It really is amazing,“ miss, Jason Day could feel the moment was getting closer, not further it ever?’ Because there are guys who’ve but that was just a part of him being Straits edged closer to reality. “It’s Day says. monkey on his back dig its claws away. He believed in his mental strength, had all the potential in the world and the disciplinarian in my life at that time. important for me. Even though I’m the in. There was talk in the media. borne out of a well-documented difficult haven’t reached that goal of winning a He has been a big inspiration in my life. one hitting the shots, he’s the one who is IThere was talk inside his head. So how childhood where he lost his father, and Major championship,” says Day. I can honestly say that I would never there to calm me down when I need it. ROLE MODEL did Australia’s 11th Major champion and the relentless ambition it took to escape “It sounds very boring and very be where I am today without the help He was a huge influence in me winning.” When he was younger Day never current World Number 2 defy the doubts that time for this time – his time. clichéd, but these things don’t of him and my team,” says Day, who viewed himself as a role model, but that to claim the 2015 PGA Championship “I learned so much from those happen because one day you wake fulfilled a childhood dream when he all changed as he matured and began and elevate himself to the status his frustrations. I’m always open to learning. up and say, ‘Okay I’m going to win the briefly rose to World Number 1. RECORD BREAKER to recognise what his achievements game had long deserved? I’m always open to getting better. I’m tournament’. All the hard work leading “He told me, ‘It’s not over yet, we’ve In the end Jason Day didn’t just get the meant to the generations below him. It all came down to belief. Day glad it (winning a Major) happened now. up to it is what caused me to win the still got to grind it out, we’ve still got to monkey off his back; he emphatically “Being able to be a role model for believed in his skills and work ethic. Everyone was talking about how well PGA Championship.” fight’,” Day recalls of the player-caddy shook it free by holding off the junior kids is just fantastic. I’m just conversation as victory at Whistling formidable challenge of Jordan Spieth trying to better myself every day, and THE PROFESSIONAL October 2015 October 2015 THE PROFESSIONAL 22 FEATURE DAY DREAM 23 “NEVER GIVE UP. CAN COLIN SWATTON BIO 1993: Earned his PGA Membership (Voca- YOU GET BETTER FROM tional) following a three-year Traineeship at the Murrumbidgee Country Club, Canberra, THE DAY YOU HAD TODAY? through the PGA Trainee Program. THE ANSWER IS YES. THERE 1994: Moved to Kuala Lumpur on a full-time basis to develop, operate and manage the IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO Monterez Golf Academy servicing over 5000 LEARN FROM TODAY” students and then known as the premier golf academy in South East Asia. the success I have on the golf course can hopefully spread out and affect 1999: Appointed as the Head Teaching Pro- people, and hopefully they want to take fessional and Director of Golf Instruction at the up the game of golf. We need more good Kooralbyn International School Golf Program. Australian junior golfers to pick up the 2002: Appointed as the Director of Golf game,“ Day says. “What we do today shapes what we and Head Teaching Professional at the Hills accomplish tomorrow, and what we International School Golf Academy. accomplish tomorrow shapes what juniors 2006: Became coach and caddy for Jason Day. do. It feels good to have a story, and it’s a tough story for me, but it’s good to have 2007: Became coach for Greg Chalmers. that story because I’m able to share it with 2010: Became coach for Cameron Percy. people. People will understand what I’ve had to put into the game to get to where I 2015: Coach and caddy for Jason Day when am, and know that it’s not easy.“ he won the Farmers Insurance Open, Canadian As for advice to Australia’s junior Open, PGA Championship and The Barclays. golfers, Day says attitude is everything. “If I was talking to a group of 17-year-old kids, boys and girls, that had a similar skill set to what I had when I was growing up, I would say, ‘There’s someone in this world that is younger, that may be better or may be worse, that is working harder than you right now. You have to understand that you don’t get anywhere in this life without the hard work and dedication you put into your profession. Some days it’s going to be cruel and heartbreaking and very frustrating, and some days it’s going to be the best thing that ever happened to you, but you really have to understand that the hard times you go through are the learning times. Never give up. Can you get better from the day you had today? The answer is yes. There is always something THE MENTOR: PGA MEMBER COLIN SWATTON to learn from today’.” In more than 20 years as a PGA Member, Colin Championship win – I mean, he’s taken me from a Swatton has held a great variety of responsibilities kid that was getting in fights at home and getting THE FUTURE The focus might be working hard today, and successfully coached elite players such as drunk at 12 and not heading in the right direction but what do you visualise in the future Greg Chalmers and Cameron Percy. However, it to [becoming] a Major champion. And there are once you’ve tasted life as World Number is Swatton’s long and significant association with not many coaches that can say that in many sports. 1? “Being Number 1 is what drives me. Jason Day that truly shines the spotlight on this So he means the world to me. I love him to death,” Even though we’ve had a fantastic year, I’ll be sitting down with my agent Bud remarkable Professional. Known as a hard worker Day says of Swatton. (Martin), Col, my wife and my trainer and somewhat of a perfectionist, Swatton has been a “To be able to have a caddy that works as hard as Cornell (Driessen), and really just going key influence on Day’s career for the past 15 years as him and understands what’s going on, it’s like he’s over what we need to improve on next a mentor, coach and caddy. the spotter and I’m the sniper. He’s gathering all the year. What can we do right now so that next year we can have a similar year to “For him to be on the bag, not only for my information to make sure that one single shot that I this year, or even better?” first win on the PGA TOUR, but my first Major have is the shot that I need to take at the right time.” THE PROFESSIONAL October 2015 October 2015 THE PROFESSIONAL .

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