Day bags first PGA Tour win

Jason Day knows all about being a young, up-and-coming golf star. So he didn't mind one bit sharing the spotlight of his first PGA Tour victory with 16-year-old high school junior Jordan Spieth.

Heck, it might have helped.

"I was walking to the fourth hole and it looked like there was a thousand people following him," Day said. "It took a little bit of pressure off my shoulders knowing that the good majority of the fans that were following me were close friends and family."

Spieth was within 3 strokes of the lead on the final nine holes of the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas, on Sunday, then drifted back into a tie for 16th. It's still an incredible finish for a kid who last week was playing in the state high school tournament.

While Spieth likely will be remembered as the big winner of this week, it is Day's name that will go up on the champion's wall behind the oversized statue of Nelson near the first tee.

Already in the record books as the youngest winner on the Nationwide Tour - he was 19 - Day had to wait until he was 22 for this breakthrough.

"It's been a hard, tough road," Day said. "I've had a lot of negative thoughts go through my head. ... I would always think of what jobs I could do if I didn't secure my card. ... I'm glad I just stuck through it."

He's glad he stuck through this week, too.

Day nearly withdrew Thursday morning because he felt so ill. He wound up tied for the lead after the first round and was near the top all week, even while scuffling through a 2-over 72 Sunday.

He thought he might have blown it when his approach to the final hole went into the water. But he got a reprieve when playing partner Blake Adams - who said he didn't see Day's ball get wet - knocked his ball into the water, too.

Day salvaged a bogey, while Adams, a 34-year-old Tour rookie, took a double bogey and dropped into a tie for second with Brian Gay and Jeff Overton. Gay shot 7-under 63, the best round Sunday by 3 strokes.

"I wasn't nervous," Adams said. "I just didn't play well."

Spieth will be headed back to his junior year of high school Monday with a whole lot to talk about.

He became the sixth-youngest player to make the cut on Tour, then said he was serious about wanting to win. When he shot 3-under Saturday, it wasn't so farfetched.

Then came back-to-back bogeys early in the final round and a shot out of a fairway bunker that angered Spieth so much, he pulled back with his iron, ready to throw it at his bag.

But a deft chip led to a par putt. And then the kid turned everything around.

Three birdies and three near-misses left him standing on the 11th tee at 7-under while the leaders were at 10-under. Imagine what it would've been like had those three near-misses fallen.

A few holes later, he started backing up again - a bogey, then a double-bogey. Yet he bounced back once more, too, with a birdie on the next hole and knocking his tee shot to the par-3 17th just 14 feet from the cut.

Alas, Spieth missed that putt and a par putt of about the same distance on No. 18 for a closing bogey. He walked off to a loud ovation, a handshake from playing partner Corey Pavin and a hug from Peggy Nelson, widow of the tournament's namesake.

"It was awesome ... the entire round, the entire week," Spieth said. "Starting the week, I definitely would've taken a top-20, in a heartbeat. Obviously now, looking back, being a competitor, I look back at the mistakes I made that didn't give me an opportunity to win."

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.

At least, that's the plan right now.

Sybase Match Play Championship: Sun Young Yoo won the Sybase Match Play Championship for her first LPGA Tour victory, beating Angela Stanford 3 and 1 on Sunday at Hamilton Farm om Gladstone, N.J.

BMW PGA Championship: Simon Khan won the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth, England, by a stroke, shooting a 5-under 66 to come from 7 strokes back and capture a tournament he played in only after receiving a late invitation. Fredrik Andersson Hed of Sweden (67) and Luke Donald of England (71) tied for second at 5-under 279.