Jason Day

Day was born in Beaudesert, Queensland. His father, Alvin, was Irish Australian, and his mother, Dening, migrated from the Philippines to Australia in the early 1980s. He has two siblings, Yanna and Kim. His father took him to Beaudesert Golf Club and enrolled him as a junior member just after his sixth birthday. He was allowed to play six holes a day as a junior. At the age of eight his family moved to Rockhampton, and during this period he began to win events in the surrounding districts. Alvin Day died of stomach cancer when Jason was 12. Day's mother sent him to Kooralbyn International School, which had a golf course attached. Later he went to Hills International College, where they have a golf academy, at the behest of his coach, Col Swatton, who had moved there when Kooralbyn school closed down. Day borrowed a book about Tiger Woods from his roommate, and it inspired him to improve his golf by practicing in the early morning, at lunch-time and in the evening. He used the book's reports of Woods' scores as his benchmark for improvement and as a reachable standard. His first big win was at the age of 13 in a 2000 Australian Masters junior event on the Gold Coast, where he won with scores of 87, 78, 76 and 76. As an amateur, Day was twice awarded the Australian Junior Order of Merit. He finished seventh and was the leading amateur at the Queensland Open. Day won the Australian Boys' Amateur in 2004. His amateur success extended to the United States, where he won the Boys 15–17 division at the 2004 Callaway World Junior Championship and was runner-up in the 2005 Porter Cup. He was a member of the Golf Australia National Squad. In 2005, Day lost in a playoff at the Greater Building Society QLD PGA Championship; a professional event on the Von Nida Tour. He was beaten by Scott Gardiner on the fourth extra hole.