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With Col Swatton at his side Jason Day has eyes for the Green Jacket

By: Golfshake Editor | Mon 04 Apr 2016


Post by Sports Writer Derek Clements


CHANCES are that if you see Jason Day anywhere in the world that Col Swatton will not be terribly far away. Swatton is, of course, Day's caddie but he is far, far more than that.

He is also his coach, mentor, friend and surrogate father. Without him in his life, the chances are that we would never have heard of Jason Day. It is hard to believe now, but the Australian almost went off the rails when he was a boy and had some choices to make about the road he wanted to follow. Fortunately, he chose the correct path.

Day's father, Alvin, died when the boy was just 12 years old and he reacted by running away from home, drinking, fighting and sleeping in the street. He seemed destined for a life of crime.

His mother was at the end of her tether and took out a second mortgage so that she could send him to Kooralbyn, a boarding school in southeast Queensland which had also been attended by Adam Scott.

Swatton was the golf instructor at Kooralbyn and his first meeting with Day did not turn out too well. Swatton asked a group including Day to take part in a short-game drill but the youngster said he wanted to go and play golf. Swatton told him he could. Day later apologised for his behaviour and it was at this point that the coach realised that Day had something about him. 

He worked on his game for hours every day became one of the best junior golfers on the planet. Swatton always knew that Day was a special talent but was not convinced that he had what it took to make it in the professional ranks.

Swatton has been Day's golf coach and mentor ever since and the player refers to him as a member of his family. "It feels like he is my right arm," he says. "I couldn't play golf without him."

When Day collapsed during the second round at the US Open at Chambers Bay last year, Swatton was the man who demanded that medics be called for to check out his man. Day finished the round and before going out for round three, suffering from the effects of vertigo, Swatton told him,: "You have the heart of a lion Jason. You're going to show the world today you're going to be the greatest you can be.

“And he just put his head down and kept walking one foot in front of the other. It was pretty impressive. I kept feeding him water and giving him food, just giving him encouragement, just trying to get him through. I said to him, ‘They’re going to make a movie about that round.’ It was pretty impressive, it was up there with Tiger Woods playing with a broken leg at the US Open. It was very impressive.”

The two men ended up crying in each other's arms when Day won his first major, the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

“On the 18th, all I said was, 'I love you,'" Swatton said after the round. "And he loves me, and we were just a blubbering mess. It was pretty cool.”

They also recorded the only 20-under-par score in major championship history.

“He's been there for me since I was 12 years old," Day said. "I mean, he's taken me from a kid that was getting in fights at home and getting drunk at 12 and not heading in the right direction, to a major champion. And there's not many coaches that can say that in many sports. So, he means the world to me. I love him to death.”

“This seals it. This seals the whole year basically,” Swatton said. "This makes me incredibly proud. To stand on the 18th green and share that moment...I knew with the work ethic and the drive and the motivation, the skills would develop over time. He’ll continue to grow and get better.”

Day has already finished second and third at Augusta and is desperate to don a green jacket. “It’s one tournament that I’ve always wanted to win,” he said.  “The motivation and the want is there. I can’t get comfortable with how I’m playing right now, and I can’t get lazy, because I’ve got to understand that what I’m doing is working.

“I’ve got to keep working on the things that caused me to win over the last two weeks and keep doing that and then stay focused and hopefully put on the green jacket.”

 


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