MCKINNEY, Texas – Lightning flashed and thunder clapped Sunday above the 18th green at TPC Craig Ranch during the closing moments of the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson. And from the comfort of the clubhouse after already posting a 9-under 62 several minutes prior, Jason Day watched Austin Eckroat’s lengthy eagle putt attempt from the fringe of the par-5 18th come up empty as Day ended a five-year drought to capture his 13th PGA Tour victory.
The more than 1,800 days separating Day’s previous win at the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship and his second-career Nelson victory Sunday made for a trying stretch. Between health issues for Day, the death of his mother last spring and other hurdles in front of him, the 35-year-old from Australia said he reached a point where he asked himself if there was still another chapter to be written in his professional golf career.
That answer became clear Sunday as Day carded the low-round of the day for an emotional Mother’s Day victory — his wife, Ellie, and their children watching — at the very event where he captured his first Tour win back in 2010.
“I was in tears for a little bit there,” Day said. “To think about what my mom went through from 2017 on to her passing last year and then to now that, it was very emotional to go through and to experience what she was going through, then I had injuries on top of all of that going on in my life.
“To be honest, I was very close to calling it quits. … Ellie, she never gave up on me trying to get back to the winner’s circle again. She just always was pushing me to try and get better.”
And the memory of his mother, Dening, who died last March after a bout with cancer, was with Day when he started his final round.
“It didn’t hit me until I looked at my caddie and he had his back to me on the first green, and I’m like, ‘oh, that’s my mom’s name,’ ” Day said. “That’s when it kind of hit me where I was like,…
Source : cbssports
