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His best major finish in six years slipped through Adam Scott’s fingers as American Scottie Scheffler survived a Sunday scare to claim the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
The world No.1 seemed destined to convert a three-stroke lead into a third major championship triumph at the start of play, yet a front-nine struggle gave others a glimpse at causing a boil over.
Two-under on his round courtesy of birdies at four, seven and 10, Scott was briefly in a share of second and just three strokes off the lead as Scheffler played the front nine in 2-over to drop back to 9-under for the championship.
Tied with Spain’s Jon Rahm, Scheffler moved one clear again with birdie at the par-5 10th and then picked up shots at both 14 and 15 to apply a squeeze that crushed the hopes of Rahm and any other potential contenders, the five-stroke margin of victory testament to his toughness and pure will to win.
Scott’s hopes effectively ended with a bogey at the short par-4 14th.
In the right rough with his tee shot, the 44-year-old took a full swing with lob wedge but came up short in the greenside bunker, unable to get up-and-down to save par to drop back to 5-under.
He missed a birdie chance from 22 feet at the par-5 15th and then made bogey at the par-3 17th when his chip from the right of the green came up 18 feet short of the hole.
A blistered drive of 331 yards into the left fairway on 18 was squandered when Scott’s approach shot finished left of the hazard that runs along the left side, a miraculous chip from a downhill lie inside the penalty area a final piece of wizardry on his way to a double-bogey at the 72nd hole.
Those three dropped shots in two holes saw Scott fall to a tie for 19th with a round of 2-over 73 and level with fellow Australian Cam Davis (72) at 2-under.
Davis made three birdies in succession on the front nine as he made the turn 1-under, moving to 2-under on his round with birdie at the par-5 10th.
But after a birdie on 15, the infamous ‘Green Mile’ would hit Davis hard also, dropping shots at each of the final three holes to end the week at 2-under.
The week after a maiden PGA TOUR win, Kiwi Ryan Fox closed with a round of 2-over 73 to finish tied 28th as Elvis Smylie rounded out his first weekend at a major with a round of 3-over 74.
It took a blistering finish from world No.1 Scottie Scheffler to turn Adam Scott’s chances of a second major championship from hopeful to nigh on impossible at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
Scott was just four strokes off the lead when he signed for a 2-under 69 to be 4-under through three rounds but Scheffler further separated himself from Scott and the rest of the field by playing the final five holes in 5-under par.
At 11-under, Scheffler will start Sunday with a three-stroke advantage from Swede Alex Noren, Scott the best of the Aussies seven shots from the lead and in a tie for 13th.
With just one top 10 in his past 21 major championship starts, Scott was happy to nudge towards the first page of the leaderboard, looking towards a more productive day with the putter to advance his position further in the final round.
“That’s a good position for me,” said Scott when told he was four strokes back at the completion of his round.
“That’s better than where I’ve been any time lately.
“I feel like I’ve played solid all week; it’s been hard work on the greens.
“I’ve had a few three-putts, and it feels a bit costly at the moment when it’s so bunched up like this.
“Overall my game feels really solid. I just need a day where the putts get rolling in tomorrow.
“I’ve just kind of fought being comfortable all week. You’re good for a few holes and then you hit one surprisingly short or something.
“It just knocks the confidence around a little bit and it’s those emotions I’m trying to manage the best I can out there.
“But if a few go in, it all changes quickly.”
A three-putt from outside 50 feet at the 221-yard par-3 sixth was Scott’s only dropped shot on Saturday, getting up-and-down all five times that he missed the green including three-of-three sand saves.
Kiwi Ryan Fox fought hard to keep himself in the mix and will start the final round in a tie for 17th alongside Australian Cam Davis, who made up four shots in three holes on the back nine in a round of 1-under 70.
Tied for seventh through 36 holes, Fox could only salvage par twice from the seven greens he missed, trading six bogeys with five birdies in his round of 1-over 72.
Playing the weekend of a major for the first time in his career, Elvis Smylie played his back nine in 5-over 40 in a round of 6-over 77.
Victorian Richard Green will need to conjure something special on Sunday after his flatstick failed him in Round 3 of the Regions Tradition in Alabama.
Chasing his first PGA TOUR Champions win in the first senior major of the year, Green will start the final round five back due to a frustrating day on the greens in a round of 3-over 75.
The silky left-hander was even par through eight holes of the third round but a bogey on nine followed by a double-bogey due to two poor chips at the par-3 10th saw him dethroned from the top of the leaderboard.
He would par his way in as American Jerry Kelly (65) charged, Green unable to find any joy with the putter as he hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation.
The 54-year-old will start the final round in a share of 10th at 10-under par, Brisbane’s Michael Wright just one shot further back at 9-under on the back of a productive Round 3.
Kelly’s 65 was the only round better than Wright’s 6-under 66 on day three, the 51-year-old making eagle at the par-5 13th and three birdies on the trot from the 15th hole to climb 19 spots and into a tie for 13th with one round to play.
Greg Chalmers (70) will start Sunday in a tie for 15th at 8-under par, Rod Pampling and Mark Hensby both rising into a tie for 32nd on the back of rounds of 4-under 68.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
A birdie at Quail Hollow Club’s toughest hole will see Kiwi Ryan Fox start Round 3 inside the top 10 as the Aussies fell back on day two of the PGA Championship in Charlotte.
Fox was one of only 11 players to make birdie at the par-4 18th on Friday, his second shot from 152 yards dancing around the cup before coming to rest just outside two feet from the hole.
It was the ideal way to cap off an even-par round of 71 for the 2019 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner who enters the weekend in a tie for seventh.
Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas maintained his two-shot lead with a round of 1-under 70, Fox one of 15 players separated by just two strokes on a day in which 13 of the 18 holes played over their par.
Tied for second after a 66 in Round 1, Cam Davis made just one birdie in his round of 3-over 74 to drop into a tie for 27th at 2-under, level with fellow Aussie Adam Scott who tumbled down the leaderboard late with a double-bogey on 18.
Making his PGA Championship debut, Elvis Smylie was 3-under for the tournament thanks to early birdies at one and three but, like Scott, made double on 18 along with a bogey on 17 for a round of 73 to make the cut on the number at 1-over.
After fighting back with four birdies early on the back nine, Min Woo Lee (72) dropped shots at both 17 and 18 to miss the cut, 2015 champion Jason Day (75), Cameron Smith (71) and Karl Vilips (75) falling well short of the cut-line.
Fox was the last player in the field courtesy of his victory at the PGA TOUR’s ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic on Sunday, the 38-year-old’s PGA Championship preparation limited to 18 holes on Wednesday.
He called upon memories of playing all four rounds at the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in an opening round of 67 on Thursday and kept himself in the mix with three back-nine birdies at 10, 15 and 18 on Friday.
Scott began Round 2 with nine straight pars before also picking up three birdies on the back nine at 10, 14 and 15.
Playing in his 25th PGA Championship, the 44-year-old was just four strokes off the lead when disaster struck on Quail Hollow’s infamous finisher.
He found the centre of the fairway with a tee shot of 313 yards but then turned his approach shot over, his ball bouncing into the creek that lines the left side of the green.
After taking his penalty, Scott chipped down to three feet but then barely touched the right side of the hole with his bogey putt.
On a day in which he needed 30 putts compared to just 24 in Round 1, Davis’s highlight was the only hole in which he didn’t need any, chipping in for birdie from 53 feet at the 252-yard par-3 sixth.
Showing growing confidence in elite company, Smylie hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation on Friday but endured a day of frustration on the greens.
He converted birdie chances from nine and 10 feet on one and three but needed an additional 31 putts on the remaining 16 holes, five more than he took on Thursday.
A birdie-birdie finish secured Victorian Richard Green a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Alabama.
Tasked with following a sublime 9-under 63 in Round 1 that matched the low round in tournament history, the Aussie left-hander struggled to convert birdie opportunities for much of Round 2 before a final flurry yielded a round of 4-under 68 and 13-under total through 36 holes.
That is a new 36-hole low since the tournament moved to Greystone in 2016 and gives the 54-year-old a one-shot advantage from Kiwi Steven Alker (67) who, in turn, has a three-stroke buffer from YE Yang (68), Chris DiMarco (65) and Alex Cjeka (69).
Green was 10-under for the championship when he birdied the par-3 10th to start day two but bogeys at 12 and 14 either side of a birdie on 13 brought him back to even par for the day.
Three straight birdies from the ninth hole saw Green return to the top of the leaderboard before taking another step back with a dropped shot at the par-4 sixth.
A silky approach to three feet set up a birdie at the par-4 eighth and then Green finally got a putt to fall on nine from 30 feet.
“It felt a little bit like probably what I should have got out of the day,” Green said of his closing birdies.
“I hit a lot of great iron shots and set up a lot of birdie chances and just missed them all.
“They’re a bit tricky, some of the reads today, so I was pleased to have finished well.”
A runner-up on the PGA TOUR Champions six times, Green is poised yet again to be in contention deep into Sunday.
Admitting that he was unlikely to match his score from Round 1, the three-time DP World Tour winner was content to continue to play well.
“It’s just the law of averages really, with the amount of times you actually do shoot blinding rounds of golf like that,” Green added.
“It’s rare to do that, and then to come and try to do it again, it’s hard to do mentally.
“It’s possible, it’s always possible, but law of averages say otherwise, don’t they.
“I’m happy to have gone out and had a few birdies still and set up a lot of chances. Lots of good signs.”
A frustrating day on the greens saw Greg Chalmers (71) drop outside the top 10 and into a tie for 13th at 6-under, Cameron Percy tied for 18th at 5-under after a round of 3-under 69.
David Bransdon (71) is in a tie for 26th through two rounds and Steve Allan (68) and Michael Wright (71) are tied 32nd heading into the weekend.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
Cam Davis defied a dry spell dating back to the first week in February to sit just two strokes off the lead after Round 1 of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.
With just one top-50 finish in an eight-tournament stretch that included five straight missed cuts, Davis did not present as the obvious Aussie contender leading into the second men’s major championship of 2025.
Yet the 30-year-old gained six strokes on the field on the greens to shoot 5-under 66 and trail unlikely front-runner Jhonattan Vegas (64) by two by day’s end.
The last man in the field after his first PGA TOUR win on Sunday, Kiwi Ryan Fox (67) is just one back of Davis in a share of fourth as two late bogeys saw Adam Scott (69) drop back into a tie for 20th at 2-under.
Playing alongside Vegas, Elvis Smylie impressed in his first PGA Championship round, missing a par putt on his final hole from 14 feet in a round of 1-under 71 for a share of 29th.
Admitting that his game “just kind of left me” after three top-20 finishes in his first four starts in 2025, Davis felt vindicated that hard work paid off on the sport’s biggest stage.
“I haven’t been having the best results on course over the last few months and been working really hard to turn that around,” said the two-time PGA TOUR winner.
“To see the first real sign that it’s turning around happen in the first round of a major, it’s very encouraging.
“It’s just constantly trying to go back to things that have worked, trying to keep the head in a place where you’re not feeling like you’re banging your head against the wall all the time.
“It’s letting it organically come, good processes, good routines. All those little one per centers add up to good golf eventually, and I feel like this week has been a week of good preparation.”
In addition to the three birdie putts he holed from outside 15 feet, Davis saved par from outside nine feet on four separate occasions, a formula he believes is essential for success in major championships.
“Rolled a lot of putts that went in and kept the momentum going,” said Davis, who was tied for fourth at the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.
“I feel like for a major, when you’re playing a difficult golf course, if you can do that, you can keep things moving forward.
“Very happy with my work today, but it’s still a four-round event. But you can definitely help yourself a lot by having a good first round.”
Starting his round from the 10th tee, Davis had the outright lead at 6-under when he holed a putt from just inside 22 feet for birdie at the par-3 sixth, part of the 164 feet and 8 inches of putts he holed for the day.
Forced to play away from the pin after just clearing the water with his second shot on his way to par at the par-5 seventh, Davis missed a 20-footer for birdie on eight and then made just his second bogey of the day when he was unable to get up-and-down from short of the green at the par-4 ninth.
Three birdies in his first five holes gave Fox the early lead, three birdies and two bogeys in his final five holes resulting in a final total of 4-under for the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic winner.
Scott’s round got rolling when he made birdie from 42 feet at the par-3 sixth, following that up with further birdies at seven and eight to turn in 3-under.
Four-under and bogey-free when he picked up another shot at the par-4 14th put Scott within one shot of the lead.
But the 2013 Masters champion was unable to make par when his second shot into 16 fed into the rough behind the green and then three-putted from 70 feet for bogey at the par-3 17th.
An early chip-in at the par-4 11th was the highlight of Jason Day’s 2-over 73, Min Woo Lee’s 74 consisted of an eagle, four birdies, seven bogeys, a double bogey and five pars and Karl Vilips and Cameron Smith both shot 78.
A round equal to the best recorded at the Regions Tradition has earned Richard Green a two-stroke lead after Round 1 of the first senior major for 2025.
The Victorian left-hander had eight birdies and an eagle at the par-5 13th to post 9-under 63, two strokes clear of Kiwi Steven Alker and American duo Jerry Kelly and Stewart Cink.
An eagle at the par-5 15th was the highlight of Greg Chalmers’ opening round of 5-under 67 that has the West Australian in a tie for seventh as David Bransdon (69), Cameron Percy (70), Mark Hensby (70) and Michael Wright (70) finished day one inside the top 25.
Green’s 63 at Greystone Golf and Country Club matched that by Alker in Round 4 last year and Robert Karlsson in Round 3 of the 2023 championship and puts him in a front-running position in pursuit of a first PGA TOUR Champions victory.
The 54-year-old has been a runner-up on six occasions – including twice in senior majors last year – and knows that knocking on the door often enough will eventually nudge it open.
“It’s been a lot of good stuff last year and in big tournaments,” said Green, who has coach Darrell Brown with him in Birmingham, Alabama.
“I’ve taken that into this year and trying to find little improvements that I can try to make from last year, which is very difficult to do.
“I’ve just got to keep putting myself in there. I like four rounds. I’ve put myself in a great position today, so you never know.
“Just got to keep doing your thing, keep battling your own battles and hopefully I’m there at the end.”
Green’s 63 was just one shy of his lowest round on the Champions Tour to date, a 62 in Round 2 of the 2024 Regions Charity Classic where he finished second.
A birdie at the opening hole on Thursday set the perfect tone, following that up with three on the trot starting from the par-5 fifth.
Two birdies after the turn continued Green’s momentum and when he made eagle on 13 and birdie at 14, scoring records were poised to fall.
A missed fairway led to his lone bogey for the day at the par-4 16th, a shot he earned back courtesy of a superb pitch over a bunker and birdie putt from nine feet at the par-5 18th.
Photo: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
He has been a professional less than a year yet Aussie prodigy Karl Vilips is “definitely on the radar” of 2026 Presidents Cup captain and major winner Geoff Ogilvy.
Vilips will further his progression when he plays his first major championship as a professional at the US PGA Championship starting late tonight AEST, the 23-year-old paired with Thorbjorn Olesen and Laurie Canter for rounds one and two.
A maiden PGA TOUR win in just his fourth start at the Puerto Rico Open in March earned Vilips his place in the field at Quail Hollow Club, and gave Ogilvy further cause to sit up and take notice.
Named captain of the International team for the 2026 matches in Chicago a fortnight ago, Ogilvy has been aware of Vilips from his day as a pint-sized precocious kid with his own YouTube channel collecting junior trophies across the globe.
That he is now being considered a contender to take on the might of the US is a surprise even to the man tasked with engineering an International win more than 25 years in the making.
“I’m not massive on social media, but I was always pretty aware that he was pretty good,” said Ogilvy.
“He went to Stanford and went all four years, which was impressive because these prodigies usually end up getting out there too early. That was really smart.
“Then he comes out of college and just goes win-win bang. And now he’s out here and he’s won on the main Tour. It’s pretty impressive.
“If you look at the top players in the world, usually they’ve had lives like him. Tiger (Woods) and Justin Thomas and (Phil) Mickelson and all these guys, and Ernie Els, they start golf when they’re starting to walk.
“And Karl was the same.
“That transition from college or amateur golf to pro golf is not easy – we’ve seen a lot of guys stumble at that hurdle – but he’s just made it look pretty easy.
“The future is bright for him. He’s definitely on my radar.”
Vilips first came on the radar of Jason Day’s long-time coach Colin Swatton at the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst when introduced by Karl’s father, Paul Vilips.
It wasn’t until Vilips broke his finger playing basketball and was enduring a challenging period in his development that Golf Australia’s High Performance Director, Brad James, reached out in 2020 to see if Swatton would coach a talented teen in need of direction.
“I met a kid that was extremely low on confidence, didn’t know really the direction his game was going to come out on the back end of the surgery,” Swatton shared.
“He was looking at changing grip positions because of the broken finger and he had some stuff going on in his swing that was definitely a red flag.
“Paul basically asked me to get involved from a short-game perspective and it wasn’t long until I was working with him from a long-game perspective.”
As he refines a swing and overall game that has already proven itself at the highest level, Swatton has marvelled at Vilips’ mental make-up.
Before he had played his first event as a PGA TOUR member, Vilips was speaking excitedly about playing the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town, one of his favourite golf courses.
The issue, as Swatton saw it, was that the RBC was a limited-field Signature Event worth $US20 million that his rookie charge was a long shot of playing.
And then Puerto Rico happened.
“I just thought to myself, here’s a kid that saw himself somewhere months before it happened,” Swatton added.
“And it’s the law of attraction. What you focus on is what will become your beliefs and your future.
“He wasn’t focused on anything else other than where he thinks he needs to be.
“It took Jason three years to figure out how to win on the PGA TOUR and he’s won within the first four events of being on TOUR.
“He’s definitely ahead of the curve and I think he could be really, really special.
“Given the right environment, given the right people around him, given the right information, I think he could be one of Australian’s great golfers.”
Ten Aussies will endeavour to end more than two decades of missed opportunities in senior major championships at the first over-50s major of 2025 this week in Alabama.
The influx of Australian talent onto the PGA TOUR Champions has been on an upward trajectory for the past three years yet tournament wins – including in the five biggest events each year – have proved elusive.
While Kiwi Steven Alker has amassed nine Champions Tour wins – including the 2022 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship – only Mark Hensby (pictured, right), Rod Pampling and Steve Allan have won on the senior circuit in the US the past two years.
The drought in senior majors stretches back to 2002 when Stewart Ginn won the Senior Players Championship, one of only four Aussies along with Ian Stanley, Graham Marsh and Peter Thomson to claim one of the showpiece events on the senior circuit.
That drought could end this week at the Regions Tradition with a contingent of Aussies who have come close in recent years.
Victorian Richard Green was twice a runner-up in senior majors last year, Greg Chalmers (pictured, left) had a share of the lead going into last year’s KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship while Hensby, Pampling and Stuart Appleby all boast top-three finishes since 2022.
It is a rare double week of major championship action with seven Australians and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox to contest the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
While our three most recent major champions in Cameron Smith, Jason Day and Adam Scott are present again, it also marks the emergence of the next wave of Aussie superstars.
A breakthrough PGA TOUR win at last month’s Houston Open was the next step in Min Woo Lee’s progression and both Karl Vilips and Elvis Smylie will play the PGA Championship for the first time.
Vilips only graduated from Stanford University 12 months ago but has already earned his first PGA TOUR win while Smylie received a special exemption as Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner.
It is the second major championship for both and an opportunity for Smylie to take what he learned at last year’s Open Championship and apply it in a major setting.
“I feel like I’ll do a really good job at just not burning myself out too much,” said Smylie, who played a practice round with Day and Lee on Tuesday.
“My tendency last year at The Open was wanting to play a lot, just because it’s a major, it’s just really exciting.
“I’m doing my best at being able to prepare like any other tournament, so that’s where the experience of having Ritchie (Smith, Smylie’s coach) around will be really beneficial.”
Photos: Getty Images
Round 1 tee times AEST
US PGA Championship
Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, North Carolina
9:05pm* Ryan Fox (NZ)
9:49pm* Jason Day
10:11pm* Min Woo Lee
10:17pm Karl Vilips
2:36am* Cam Davis
3:03am Adam Scott
4:09am Cameron Smith
4:26am* Elvis Smylie
Past champion: Xander Schauffele
Past Aussie winners: Jim Ferrier (1947), David Graham (1979), Wayne Grady (1990), Steve Elkington (1995), Jason Day (2015)
TV times: Live 3am-9am Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 503 and Kayo.
PGA TOUR Champions
Regions Tradition
Greystone G&CC, Birmingham, Alabama
1:15am David Bransdon
1:48am Stuart Appleby
1:59am Cameron Percy
2:10am Mark Hensby
2:10am* Steven Alker (NZ)
2:21am John Senden
2:54am Richard Green
3:16am Steve Allan
3:27am Greg Chalmers, Rod Pampling
3:27am* Michael Wright
Past champion: Doug Barron
Past Aussie winners: Graham Marsh (1999)
Prize money: $US2.6m
TV times: Live 5am-8am Friday, Saturday; Live 4am-7am Sunday, Monday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo.
Ladies European Tour
Dutch Ladies Open
Goyer Golf and Country Club, Eemnes, Netherlands
Australasians in the field: Kirsten Rudgeley, Momoka Kobori (NZ), Kelsey Bennett, Amelia Garvey (NZ), Wenyung Keh (NZ), Maddison Hinson-Tolchard
Past champion: Jana Melichova
Past Aussie winners: Corinne Dibnah (1993), Stephanie Kyriacou (2021)
Prize money: €330,000
Korn Ferry Tour
AdventHealth Championship
Blue Hills Country Club, Kansas City, Missouri
11:46pm Harry Hillier (NZ)
3:43am* Rhein Gibson
Past champion: Harry Higgs
Past Aussie winners: Michael Sim (2009), James Nitties (2011)
Prize money: $US1m
Korea PGA Tour
SK Telecom Open
Pinks GC, Korea
8:12am* Changgi Lee (NZ)
8:23am Sungjin Yeo (NZ)
8:45am* Junseok Lee
1:02pm Wonjoon Lee
Past champion: KJ Choi
Past Aussie winners: Kurt Barnes (2011), Matthew Griffin (2013)
Prize money: KRW1.3b
Epson Tour
Copper Rock Championship
Copper Rock Golf Course, Hurricane, Utah
5:59am* Su Oh
Past champion: Fiona Xu
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: $US250,000
Legends Tour
OFX Irish Legends
Mount Juliet Estate, Co Kilkenny, Ireland
Australasians in the field: Michael Campbell (NZ), Scott Hend, Michael Long (NZ)
Past champion: Adilson da Silva
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Sunshine Tour
Kit Kat Cash & Carry Pro-Am
Irene Country Club, Centurion, South Africa
Aussies in the field: Austin Bautista
Past champion: Kieran Vincent
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Prize money: R2m
Long-time coach and mentor Col Swatton has taken Jason Day back in time to unlock a future he is convinced will feature further major championship success.
Reunited at the start of this year, it is 10 years since Swatton and Day celebrated one of the seminal moments in Australian golf when they fulfilled major championship destiny at the 2015 US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.
Not only did it mark the summit of a shared journey that began when Day came under Swatton’s watch as a troubled teen attending the Hills International School west of the Gold Coast, it was the centrepiece in a stretch of golf that made Day the best player in the game.
In the decade since, Day’s family with wife Ellie has expanded to five children, he has endured a debilitating back injury and, after parting ways with Swatton in 2020, sought swing changes with a range of coaches and a period where he chose to go solo.
The past decade has also seen Day record runner-up finishes at the PGA Championship (2016) and The Open Championship (2023) and win a further six times on the PGA TOUR, spending 51 weeks as the world No.1.
Now 37 years of age, Day spent the majority of 2022 outside the top 100 but has enjoyed a resurgence, a resurgence Swatton believes can continue by looking back at what made him great in the first place.
“Jase just needs to, in his own words, quiet the noise that he’s been going through for the last three or four years,” said Swatton, who has both Day and rookie Karl Vilips in the field this week at Quail Hollow Club.
“He also needs to get back to the things that have made him great, and I think he’s gotten away from those a little bit in the last three or four years.
“Part of my job and part of my role is to come back in and say, ‘Hey, this is what you did when you were the best player in the world.’ Remind him of that, but also to hold him somewhat accountable to that. To be able to say, ‘This is what you did. We need to get back to that winning formula and allow everything else to fall into place.’”
When the pair combined for major championship glory, Day was a tenacious 27-year-old in the midst of four wins in the space of six events with world golf at his mercy.
The motivating forces may have changed in the decade since, yet Swatton sees the game and a new cause driving him to the best in the sport again.
“Jason’s in a different place now. He’s got five kids; Dash (Day’s eldest) is a very fine golfer in his own right,” said Swatton.
“When you reach the highest of highs and you become the best player in the world, you get to the top of the mountain and you go, OK, that’s great, it smells and looks a little different up here.
“I think Jase wants to set examples and sort of say, ‘This is what your dad did, but also, too, this is who your dad is.’ Set examples, lifetime lessons for his kids.
“I think he wants to prove not only to himself, but to his family, that this is who Jason Day is.
“I’ve definitely seen the signs that I need to see to feel encouraged and I think Jason’s seen the signs that he needs to also feel encouraged.
“Whether it’s this year or not, I definitely think he’s got another (major) in him, if not more.”
Day was at the peak of his powers when he held off world No.1 Jordan Spieth at the 2015 PGA Championship with Swatton on the bag.
With legacy on his shoulders and Lake Michigan sitting ominously to his left, Day delivered a superb tee shot to the heart of the green at the par-3 17th to protect his three-shot advantage.
When Day marked his ball after his birdie putt from 40 feet came to rest a foot from the cup on the 72nd hole, tears began to flow.
Reflecting on that moment, Swatton admitted that he started to become overcome by emotion back in the 18th fairway.
“It is a tough hole to get it done, to be fair. It’s a difficult shot,” Swatton recalled of the par-4 finisher.
“It’s a semi-blind tee shot and the second shot you are hitting to this amphitheatre green with the whole clubhouse in the background and the crowd lining the right side of the fairway.
“I remember Jason turning to me and I’m trying to have this conversation with him. I’m trying to give him the yardage, give him the wind direction, give him everything else and he just said, ‘Tell me where to hit it.’
“It was probably that moment, for the first time all day, that I kind of got a little nervous and I allowed the moment to get a little bit… not out of control, but just envelop us both.
“It was like, you knock it on the green here and you manage the two putt and you’re going to become a major championship winner and win the PGA Championship.
“That’s probably the moment that I kind of allowed it to get maybe a little too much for the both of us.
“That embrace after he knocked that putt in and watching Jase just do the belly cry and sob, there’s nothing better than that.”
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
