Sloppy finish doesn't ruin Day

It was difficult to watch Jason Day's breakthrough victory on the PGA Tour yesterday at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas.

The 22-year-old Australian flirted with disaster on the final hole before registering a two-shot victory over Blake Adams, Brian Gay and Jeff Overton. CBS Sports TV analyst David Feherty described the final-hole dramatics as watching someone come to a victory party in a wheelbarrow and the analogy fit. Luckily for Day, his closing 2-over-par 72 was good enough to wheel away the first-place prize money of $1,170,000.

Day, the youngest winner ever on the Nationwide Tour at age 19, appeared to have blown his chance when his approach shot to the 18th green went left into the water. But he caught a break when playing partner Adams, who said he didn't see Day's ball get wet, knocked his ball into the water, too. At the time, Adams was just one shot back and in position to force a playoff or win.

Day, who carded six bogeys in his final round, managed to bogey the 18th while Adams, a 34-year-old PGA Tour rookie, took a costly double bogey that dropped him into a three-way tie for second. On an entertainment scale of 1 to 5, Oldgolfdawg would throw the tournament 3 1/2 dog biscuits, but not because of the excitement produced by the final-hole antics of Day and Adams.

It's very possible people will look back on the tournament and remember the outstanding play of 16-year-old amateur Jordan Spieth more than anything else. Spieth, a junior at Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas, was within three shots of the lead on the final nine holes before he fell back into a tie for 16th, an amazing finish for a teenager who last week was the Class 5A medalist in the Texas high school state tournament. He shot a 72 yesterday, his highest score of the tournament, to finish at 4-under 276, six strokes behind Day.

Spieth, the reigning U.S. Junior Amateur champion, would've made $91,185.71 had he turned pro this week. But he's planning to wait through another year of high school, then attend the University of Texas. Of course, that might change if he keeps playing so well against the big boys. He already has gotten a sponsor's exemption to play in Memphis next month.

Hailed as another Tiger Woods while growing up in Australia, Day began playing PGA Tour events at age 18. He played 65 tournaments before finally winning one, but figures the experience was worth it, admitting he got a bit lazy after having success and money at a young age.

Day, who has been dealing with a sinus infection since the opening week of the season, nearly withdrew Thursday morning because he felt so ill. He wound up sharing for the lead after the first round and was near the top all week. He has to be glad he gutted it out despite having to endure some anxious moments on the final hole. In doing so, he became the youngest winner of the Byron Nelson Championship since Tiger Woods won in 1997 at age 21. At 22 years, six months and 11 days, Day is the second-youngest winner on the PGA Tour this season behind Rory McIlroy (20 years, 11 months and 28 days).

Information from PGATOUR.com, ESPN.com and the Associated Press contributed to this post.