Day 20-under in historic PGA win over Spieth

AFP: Australia’s Jason Day won the PGA Championship in historic style on Sunday, capturing his first grand slam title with a 20-under par total unprecedented in major championship history.

Day carded a five-under par 67 in the final round at Whistling Straits for a 20-under total of 268 -- breaking Tiger Woods’s major-record low winning total of 19-under set at the British Open in 2000.

Day, who has endured a string of near-misses on golf’s biggest stages, was never going to let this one slip away.

“I wasn’t going to stop fighting until it was over,” said the 27-year-old, who takes home a $ 1.8 million prize almost as hefty as the Wanamaker Trophy itself.

From his birdie from a bunker at the second hole, Day was off and running, leaving Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth and the rest of the field in the shade.

Spieth carded a four-under par 68 for 17-under 271, holding off England’s Justin Rose and South African Branden Grace to finish second and seize the world number one ranking from Rory McIlroy.

Day reached 20-under for good with a two-putt birdie from the fringe at the par-five 16th.

At 18, Day rolled his first putt from 45 feet to within a foot, and was already weeping as he tapped in for par and the win.

“I didn’t expect I was going to cry,” Day said. “A lot of emotion has come out because I’ve been so close so many times and fallen short.

“Just to be able to finish the way I did was amazing.”

Day didn’t realize his 20-under total was a record low for a major winner.

“The amount of history that’s been through our game, in our sport, to be able to hold that record currently is really amazing,” he said.

“I just can’t think of it. It really is just something that I haven’t been able to sit down and just kind of absorb and really kind of cherish.”

Day, who will rise from fifth to third in the world rankings, took a two-stroke lead into the final round -- his biggest 54-hole lead at a major after holding at least a share of the top spot through three rounds in both the US and British Opens this year.

He finished with seven birdies on the day and two bogeys, twice reaching 20-under as his pursuers scrambled in his wake.