Australian Jason Day has won his first PGA Tour event in five years, claiming the Byron Nelson for the second time in Texas and making for a special Mother's Day gift.
The Byron Nelson was also Day's first victory way back in 2010, with this year's title — his 13th on tour — ending a long drought since his win at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2018.
In the intervening years he has struggled with injuries, particularly to his back, seeing him miss the cut three times in six majors from 2019 to 2021.
"It's been a struggling few years," Day said after holding off South Korea's Kim Si-woo and American 24-year-old Austin Eckroat.
Day finished with a bogey-free 9-under-par final round to finish 23-under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Kim and Eckroat.
Adam Scott was in a tie for eighth, four strokes behind his compatriot.
Kim birdied the last to briefly join Day atop the leaderboard but the Queenslander held his nerve to respond and deliver his wife Ellie — who was greenside and heavily pregnant with the couple's fifth child — her own priceless Mother's Day gift.
In a poignant tribute, Day's caddy sported a bib with his late mother's birth name, Adenil, and the inspired former world number one honoured her memory in style.
"This was the first [Mother's Day] kind of without her so to have her on my caddy bib was special," Day said of his mother, known as Dening, who died in March last year.
"And then obviously Ellie, the amount of sacrifices she's made for me and my career, I just can't thank her enough."
In a huge confidence booster ahead of next week's US PGA Championship, the season's second major in New York, Day had only three bogeys for the week.
ABC/AAP
