ORLANDO – Former PGA Championship winner Jason Day’s mom, Dening, died last night, Day posted on social media. She was 65.
Day, a former champion of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, had withdrawn from the tournament on Wednesday. He did not cite a reason, leading to speculation that his balky back may be plaguing him again. If only that had been the case.
“Last night, my mum peacefully left us after battling cancer for five years,” Day said on Instagram. “We are heartbroken but incredibly grateful for the gift we had in her living with us for the last almost two years full time. She fought so hard until the very last breath. I am forever indebted to her for the sacrifices she made for me to be successful, and for the person she helped me to become. We will miss her so much.”
Born in the Philippines, Dening studied nursing and met Day’s father, Alvyn, an Australian, via a letter he sent seeking a wife to Dening’s landlady’s sister. That woman had moved to Italy and so Dening penned a response.
“Maybe I was tired of Manila,” she told Karen Crouse of The New York Times. “I maybe had enough of working as well.”
Day was just 12 years old when his father lost his battle to stomach cancer. Soon after, his mother sold their home and borrowed money from relatives to send him to Kooralbyn International School, eight hours from home but where he could concentrate on his golf ability. That’s where Day met Collin Swatton, who became a father figure of sorts and guided Day to World No. 1 as his swing coach and caddie.
In early 2017, Dening was diagnosed with a mass in her left lung that turned out to be Stage 4 non-small-cell lung cancer. Day withdrew from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play during a teary-eyed news conference to spend time with her when he was told that she had only a few months to live. He brought her to the U.S. for exploratory surgery and her cancer went into remission for a time. Dening was by Day’s side at the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. She spent the final two years of her life in Columbus, Ohio, where Day and wife Ellie live with their four children, the last of whom was born in June.