Jason Day is currently competing in the PGA Championship. Day hails from Australia and was born in Beaudesert, Queensland. Day is half Irish-Australian and half Filipino. He has two sisters, Yanna and Kim.
His dad, Alvyn, was born in Australia, but came from Irish ancestry. He was instrumental in his son’s career, having introduced him to the game and ensuring he did everything he could so that his son could play. When he was just 6 years old, Jason’s dad took him to Beaudesert Golf Club and enrolled him as a junior member. Two years later, the family moved to Rockhampton. It was around this time that Jason started to play competitively.
Things weren’t always as wonderful as they could or should have been, however, and Jason Day has spoken out about his very tough childhood. His dad was an alcoholic and had been in and out of rehab. Jason Day opened up about his relationship with his dad in a 2015 interview with Golf.
“My dad was a violent alcoholic. Really aggressive. If we cussed or even said ‘shut up,’ we would get the belt. I remember I swore at my sister one time, and she ended up telling on me to my dad. I think I was 9 years old. And he made me sit in the mud under a mango tree while it was storming for three hours. It was dark. There were so many mosquitoes out there, so when I came in I had bites everywhere. My mom tried to get me in, but my dad wouldn’t allow it,” Day told the outlet.
“I remember once shooting a [poor] score, and he goes, ‘You’re going to get it in the parking lot.’ So I get in the car. I’m scared. We drive out of the club, he stops on the side of the road. He just starts whaling on me with both hands, closed-fist punching. I was 11. I had bruises all over me. But I mean, it is what it is,” he added.
Alvyn Day died of stomach cancer in 1999. Jason was 12 at the time.
Jason’s mother, Dening, was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia in the early 1980s. After her husband’s passing, Dening kept fostering Jason’s love of golf. She enrolled her son at Kooralbyn International School — a boarding school eight hours from home — where he was permitted to play golf on a regular basis.
Jason Day went pro in July 2006. He married Ellie Harvey in 2009, and they currently live together in Ohio.
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Jason Day’s Nationality: Where Are His Parents From?