An emotional Jason Day has broken his major championship drought in emphatic fashion, breaking the majors scoring record to win the US PGA Championship.
Day had previously finished inside the top-10 nine times in majors without closing the deal but he finally shook the gorilla off his back with his three-shot victory at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
The 27-year-old Queenslander shot a five-under-67 final round to finish at 20-under – beating Tiger Woods’ majors record for the lowest score under par of 19 set at the 2000 British Open at St Andrews.
He held the 54-hole lead at the last three majors before this breakthrough win.
The Queenslander moves to world No.3 after holding off his final group partner Jordan Spieth (68) who secured his place as the new world No.1 with his second place finish at 17-under, which followed wins in the Masters and US Open earlier this year.
South African Branden Grace (69) was third at 15-under with England’s Justin Rose (70) fourth at 14-under.
Day is the fifth Australian to win the US PGA Championship, joining Jim Ferrier, David Graham, Wayne Grady and Steve Elkington, who last won it in 1995.
Day now has three wins this year, having already won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and the Canadian Open on the US PGA Tour.
Starting with a two-shot lead, Day maintained control of the tournament and responded strongly whenever a nervous moment arose.
No player has ever bested 19-under in a major championship but Day went to 20-under with a birdie on his 14th hole.
He birdied the second hole with a lovely up and down from a bunker and then started a huge push towards becoming the first Australian to win the PGA Championship since 1995 with three birdies in a row on five, six and seven, the last a monster from 50-feet.
But, just as he looked the winner, a loose drive on the eighth ended in a bogey and a chunked approach into nine was lucky not to bring another.
But a birdie on the 11th kept his cushion and he remained relatively steady from there, hitting the magic number with a 10-foot putt for birdie on the 14th hole.
A missed fairway and green on 15 resulted in a bogey leaving him with a nervy finish but another birdie on the 16th sealed the deal.
Australian last won a major through Adam Scott at the 2013 Masters.
Matt Jones shot 75 to drop to seven-under.
Cameron Smith shot 71 to finish at five-under for the week.
– AAP
