McKINNEY, Texas — Jason Day didn’t make the Mother’s Day connection until he saw his late mom’s name on the back of his caddie’s bib on the first green Sunday afternoon.
That was just one more reason for the emotions to flow over his first victory in five years.
In a final round where there were plenty of red numbers throughout the field, no one went lower than Day, who closed with a 9-under-par 62 for a one-shot victory at the Byron Nelson over Austin Eckroat (65) and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (63). In securing the 13th PGA Tour win of his career, the 35-year-old Australian ended a drought plagued by health challenges that overlapped with Dening Day’s long battle with lung cancer before her death a little more than a year ago at age 65.
“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,” Day said. “It feels strange to be sitting here.”
Day, winless in 105 starts since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship, took his first outright lead from a large group of contenders when he broke a tie at 20 under with hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler with a chip-in for birdie at the par-4 12th. It was the second-toughest hole of the week after being converted from a par- 5 from the first two years the Nelson was held at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, about 30 miles north of Dallas.