Ten years after he won his only major Jason Day is back at the PGA Championship being guided by former mentor Col Swatton

The mentor who helped steer Jason Day to his only major and world No.1 is back in his inner circle and confident major success is coming.

A decade after Col Swatton helped guide Jason Day to his major breakthrough, the long-time coach and caddie is back in the former world No.1’s ear ahead of the year’s second major championship at Quail Hollow and confident he has “one more in him”.
Swatton said Day, who won the 2015 PGA Championship when he was the world’s best player, was unhindered by the disc issue that forced him to withdraw from an event last week and had the “mature” mindset to not only win another major but multiple majors.

Day, enjoying a “second career” after slumping to as low as 150 in the world during a wretched run of injuries and swing issues, has reunited with Swatton, the man who guided him from a talented but distracted teen to the top of the world.

It’s a combination that netted Day all but three of his 13 PGA Tour wins and spanned 20 years before they separated in 2020, three years after Swatton stopped caddying for the now 37-year-old.

Swatton said part of his job since they reunited was to remind Day what he did when he was the “best player in the world”, and he liked what he saw.

“He’s obviously matured a lot,” Swatton said on Tuesday from North Carolina where rain has washed out the opening two days of practice.

Col Swatton and Jason Day together in 2016. Picture: Drew Hallowell/Getty Images/AFP

“There’s a lot that’s happened in that interim period.

“He’s changed coaches … he’s gone through everything that he needs to do to try and get some answers and clarify what’s going on and the best way for him to feel that he needs to swing it.

“Subsequently, he’s come full circle again. When he reached out at the start of the year, he was honest and saying, ‘Hey, I’m a little lost here’.

“Jase just needs to, and in his own words, quieten the noise that probably he’s been going through for the last sort of three or four years and also get back to the things that have made him great.

“So part of my job is to come back in and say, ‘Hey, this is what you did when you were the best player in the world’ and remind him of that.”

Among Day’s major ambitions though, Swatton revealed the Australian also had another singular goal.

“He’s got his heart set on trying to be fully exempt for a lifetime on the PGA Tour, and that’s 20-plus wins,” he said.

“I think unfinished business in getting back to the No.1 player in the world, I think that’s definitely on his radar.”

Day finished in a tie for eighth at the Masters in April, continuing a long list of good results in the majors, with 17 top-10 finishes from 52 starts.

He’s also a previous winner at Quail Hollow, taking out the Wells Fargo Championship in 2018, a year he won twice before waiting five years to collect another PGA Tour trophy.

Day proudly holds the Wanamaker Trophy after winning the 2015 PGA Championship. Picture: David Cannon/Getty Images

The combination of factors, plus a clean bill of health for Day, who avoided the wet weather by staying at home in Ohio to practice before travelling late on Monday US time, has Swatton confident his pupil “has another one in him” when it comes to major victories.

“Will it be this week at Quail Hollow? I don’t know. Nothing would surprise me,” Swatton said.

“Jason definitely has the skill set to get it done.

“We’ve made some pretty good progress this year. We’ve seen some signs. We saw it again at the Masters.

“I’ve definitely seen the signs that I need to see to feel encouraged, and I think Jason’s seen the signs that he’s seen to feel also encouraged.

“Whether it’s this year or not, I definitely think he’s got another one in him, if not more.”

Day is one of seven Australians in the field for the PGA Championship, along with Cam Smith, Adam Scott, Min Woo Lee, Cam Davis, Elvis Smylie and another Swatton student, former child prodigy and now PGA Tour winner, Karl Vilips.