Hard to believe, isn’t it, that Jason Day who is now such a household name in Australia, especially so since the events of last Sunday when he walked away from Royal Melbourne with $US1.5 million, has only played 12 professional tournaments in his homeland since 2004, five as an amateur.
It was almost a case of “do not forsake me” e from the movie High Noon, or “when will I see you again … will I ever see you again”, to use another song, with the 26-year-old from Queensland.
He was here for the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne and the Open at The Lakes two years ago but then went missing again last year, remaining at home in Ohio with his American wife Ellie and now 16-month-old son Dash.
Before 2011, his most recent appearance here at home was in 2007 when he played just one tournament – plus the New Zealand PGA championship – and I feared, a view shared by many others, that he may well become a stranger at home.
We’ve seen it in the past – sadly. Bruce Crampton exiled himself from his homeland for seven years in the 1960s but came back in 1970 – and continued to for years – while 1996 US PGA Champion Steve Elkington hasn’t played here for more than a decade.
He probably never will again.
They’d made their homes in America and, in Crampton’s case particularly, spoke with an American accent.
We in this country are proud of our champion golfers and, in the majority, they returned – and still return – year after year to where their golfing careers began. Greg Norman carried the sport in for a decade and then some more, admittedly with the cattle prod of financial benefit in the form of appearance money.
He inspired a generation of young Australian players, just as Adam Scott will as this country’s first Masters Champion and hopefully Day as well, but those kids love the autograph, to see flesh and blood, not just an image on their TV screens from faraway.
Last week when Day claimed the individual honours ($US1.2 million) and shared team victory with Scott with each of them pocketing $US300,000, his accent had an American twang.
It’s understandable, I guess, but the likes of a couple of our major champions -Ian Baker-Finch who still lives in the States and Wayne Grady who is now back home for good – have never lost the good old Australian accent.
Today at his press conference ahead of the Emirates Australian Open that starts at Royal Sydney on Thursday we asked Day whether we’d see a little more of him in coming years.
“Definitely, I miss Australia a lot, I miss home. It’s just so hard. I’ve had injuries in the past, I’ve had things go on and with my son being born and all that other stuff that’s gone on off course, it’s kind of been hard to get back, but I definitely look forward to coming back every chance I get,” Day replied.
Could he narrow that down a bit, would we be seeing him every year?
“I don’t know, I really don’t know. To be honest, if I told you an answer I’d be lying to you, so I really can’t narrow it down,” Day said.
“No, I’m never going to be a stranger mate. I miss it a lot. I really want to be able to bring my kids down here. I really enjoy the summer down here when it’s winter back home (in Ohio). My mum’s still here and my sisters, I will definitely be back a lot more.”
Perhaps entering the confessional, he acknowledged later in his interview without a direct question on a totally unrelated question but perhaps mindful of earlier enquiries he said:
“It’s always fun to get back here in Australia and play, to see the fans and to really get that Australian accent back is nice from being over in America for so long. You start to lose it a bit.”
But the real test of being Australian is, well Vegemite.
“Does Dash eat Vegemite?”
“He tried it but spat it out,” Day replied.
“I eat it a lot. I always get some. You can actually get it at World Markets over there, so it’s pretty easy. I get that and the Darrel Lee Australian licorice in Target. It’s kind of special, but you can’t eat too much of it.
“Hopefully I can introduce Dash to Vegemite.”
Welcome back Jason, and may it continue. You are a quite special and gifted player and all Australian golf fans will continue to watch your progress and surely an inevitable major, and then some more, awaiting you.