Jason Day wins the US PGA 2015: Australian makes history at last with brilliant first major victory to beat Jordan Spieth

The 27-year-old was in tears even before tapping in for par on the 18th

The 27-year-old was in tears even before tapping in for par on the 18th (GETTY)

He is the nearly man no more. At the 21st attempt, after sundry near misses, Jason Day is a major champion. The 27-year-old Australian turned the final day of the PGA Championship into a procession, beginning with a two-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and never letting go.

Those behind, including Justin Rose, fenced away, advancing, falling, advancing, falling as they strove to apply some pressure. Out in front Day kept the hammer down, refusing to look over his shoulder and winning by three from the man of the season, Spieth, on a record 20 under par.

He cried like a baby at the end, which must have been confusing for his infant son Dash, who rushed on to the final green to congratulate dad, as is the custom these days. As scores of 68, 67, 66, 67 suggest, his father was a golfer apart at Whistling Straits.

The consolation for Spieth is his rise to the world no.1 ranking. Irrespective of outcomes Spieth had in many ways defined the week as he has the year, his back nine to stride into contention on a Saturday of record low scoring at the PGA Championship is burned on the golfing retina.

Logic tells us you can’t win them all. Day deserved his victory here. But this kid will win more often than not if what he is revealing to us now is indeed an inexhaustible talent for occupying the final group on the Sunday of majors.

Day was embraced by his caddie and mentor Col Swatton (GETTY)

On this occasion he ran into a golfer who was even better over the course of the week. No shame in that. Though rent with emotion as he rolled his birdie putt close to the hole at the last, Day was delighted to set fire to the bridesmaid label after finishing second three times.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Day said. “To dream of this as a 12-year-old kid then stand in front of you today is pretty special. Been close so many times and fallen short. To play the way I did today and in tough conditions, especially with Jordan in my group, it doesn’t get any better.”

With the wind up scoring was not quite the shelling of peas that it was on Saturday. The gold rush promised by Rory McIlroy when he burned through the first five holes of his third round in four under didn’t materialise. McIlroy went through the same run of holes in level par yesterday. Birdies at six, seven and ten took him to nine under and changed the complexion of his day but not enough to contend.

With the mercury again in the 30s and the ground underfoot the colour of biscuit this was a better day for boating on Lake Michigan than golfing beside it. Day was the first to strike with a birdie at the second to reach 16 under and stretch his advantage to three strokes.

Spieth responded at the third treating a six-footer like a tap-in to hit 14 under par. Certainty like his is the most remarkable thing to witness on the greens, the ball arriving at the hole along the optimum line and at the necessary speed. You wonder how he ever misses.

The consolation for Spieth is his rise to the world no.1 ranking (GETTY)

He was in trouble off the tee at the fourth, finding sand down the left. From there he could only lay up before leaving himself a 30-footer for par. Not even Spieth can knock them in to order from that distance.

South African gunslinger Branden Grace, playing in the penultimate group with Rose, began lighting up the afternoon. A birdie at the third was followed by a long par save from 20 feet at the fourth. Grace, who held the 54-hole lead at the US Open, loves to attack. A hat-trick of birdies to advance to 16 under par asked hefty questions of his rivals.

Rose responded with consecutive birdies at five and six, as did Spieth, as did Day, who simply refused to be cowed by the invitation to win his first major championship from the front. This was major golf in the Coliseum, gladiators every one of them, trying to take lumps out of each other as well as the course.

Those behind, including Justin Rose, fenced away, advancing, falling, advancing, falling (GETTY)

When day rolled in a 50-footer for birdie at the 7th to stretch his lead once more to three on 19 under par, it looked the putt of a champion, and so it would prove. A birdie at the 14th took him to 20 under par for the first time in the tournament, four clear of playing partner Spieth.

There is an Australian precedent for blowing four-shot leads with four to play in a major, a stat patented by Adam Scott at the Open three years ago. When Day gave a shot back at the 15th that spectre was raised. Though Spieth did as we have come to expect slotting a birdie at the 16th Day was did likewise to effectively close it out.

His tee shot at 18 flew past Spieth’s as if to say take that, son, this is my day. And so it was. In the penultimate group, Grace edged Rose into third by a stroke on 15 under.