Jason Day nearly gave up golf during a five-year stint in which he battled vertigo, lost his mother to cancer and failed to win on the PGA Tour. He hopes his win at the AT&T Byron Nelson in Texas in mid-May 2023 will reignite his career.
Jason Day is Irish, Australian and Filipino.
Jason Day was born on November 12, 1987 in Beaudesert, Queensland, Australia, the son of Alvyn and Dening. Alvyn was an Irish Australian and Dening a Filipino who immigrated to Australia in the early 1980s. The couple met while working as meat workers in Queensland.
Day’s Irish Australian father introduced him to golf. Alvyn’s death in 1999 nearly derailed Day’s career as he turned to partying and drugs to deal with his grief. However, his determination to honor Alvyn’s dying wish, that Day scatter his ashes at Augusta National, kept his career on track.
Day has never approached Masters officials with the idea for fear of putting them in an awkward position. Some suggest Day scattered the ashes without permission, as many others have done on hallowed sports grounds.
The golfer has family in the Philippines. Unfortunately, eight of his relatives, including his grandmother and his uncle, were killed during Typhoon Haiyan in late 2013. Day issued the following statement:
“I am deeply saddened to confirm that several members of my family lost their lives as a result of Typhoon Haiyan. My family and I are grateful for everyone who has reached out with their prayers and concern. We are devastated for everyone who has been affected by this horrible tragedy.”
Understandably, the tragedy hit Dening like a ton of bricks. “It has been more difficult for my mother: there has been no communication,” Day said. “Everything was destroyed in the area where my grandmother and my relatives lived.”
Dening died of cancer in 2022. During Day’s Mother’s Day PGA Tour victory, his caddy wore a bib with Dening’s name on it. Day dedicated his first PGA Tour victory in five years to his Filipino mother:
“I cried a bit there, thinking about what my mother went through from 2017 until her passing last year. It was very emotional to go through and experience what she was going through, then I had injuries on top of everything else that was going on in my life.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn