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Australian golfer Jason Day won the US PGA Championship at on Sunday, August 16th at Whistling Straits when he finished the four-round tournament with a mark of 20-under par. It was Day’s first major title win. The 27-year-old wrapped the victory by shooting 67 on the final day to beat American Jordan Spieth by three strokes. Branden Grace of South Africa was third with 15-under for the tournament and England’s Justin Rose was fourth at 14-under.

Day’s 20-below par places him in the golfing history books at it was the lowest total score for one of the sport’s four major tournaments. Day, who is now the world’s third-ranked golfer, did enough to hold off the 22-year-old Spieth, but Spieth’s runner-up finish now sees him take over as the world’s top-ranked golfer from Northern Ireland’s 26-year-old Rory McIlroy. Spieth was crowned the US Open and Masters champion earlier this year. McIlroy, the defending champion, finished the PGA Championship at nine-under par and in 17th position.

Before winning the US PGA title, Day had finished in the top-10 of nine previous tournaments and six of those were top-four finishes. The Australian’s 20-under broke the former record for lowest score in a major which was set by American Tiger Woods. Back in 2000 Woods managed to finish the 2000 Open Championship at 19-under. Day began the final day of the US PGA event with a two-shot lead and managed to widen it by one by the time it was over with seven birdies on the day. Day is now the fifth Australian golfer to capture the US PGA Crown.

After his victory, Day told the media, “I didn’t expect I was going to cry. A lot of emotion has come out just because I’ve been close so many times and fallen short. To be able to play the way I did today in tough conditions with Jordan in the group – he was the favourite – to be able to play the way I did was amazing.”

Spieth was also happy with the way things turned out as he won two majors this year and finished in fourth and second place in the other two, which was enough to see him take over the top spot in the world. He said it took a lot of work to overtake McIlroy and it’s going to be even harder to remain on top. McIlroy hadn’t played since June due to an ankle injury he picked up playing soccer. Day managed to drive the ball 307 yards on average in the final round compared to Spieth’s 288 yards. He also hit the fairway 73 per cent off of the tee while Spieth hit it 64 per cent.

The top four golfers in the world are now all under the age of 27 and have combined to capture five out of the last half dozen majors.