Duty tore family away from watching Day's play for Masters

Duty tore family away from watching Day's play for Masters

Mother Dening and older sister Kim were glued to the television set at their Forest Lake home, in Brisbane's western suburbs, from the moment the telecast from Augusta began at 4am but at 8 o'clock, with Jason right in the thick of a crowded The Hot News Of Augusta National battle for the green jacket, duty called.Dening had to pull herself away from the TV to head off to the city, where she works as a shipping clerk while Kim needed to drop her son off at daycare before continuing to Taringa, where she works as a nurse at a dental practice.Bob Hawke once famously declared that any boss who sacked a worker for celebrating Australia's win in the America's Cup in 1983 was a bum. That prime ministerial dispensation surely would have applied to any member of the Day family who asked for it yesterday. But neither Kim nor Dening even thought of making the phone call."I think he was tied for first when I left. I kept checking my computer at work because there's no TV there. But thankfully I didn't have to assist on a root canal today because I don't think I could have handled it.

"I was just so nervous, not knowing what was happening."What was happening was that Jason, at 23 two years her junior, was making birdies at the 17th and 18th holes to tie with fellow Queenslander Adam Scott at 12-under-par.Unfortunately South African Charl Schwartzel, playing in the group immediately behind the Australians, was putting together an even more impressive birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie finish to snatch the year's first golf major away from them."Well, we recorded it so we'll watch it tonight when Mum gets home from work," Kim said."I spoke to Jason and his wife, Ellie, this morning and he was just ecstatic with the result. He was telling me he was happy just being at the Masters and to have come second was just a bonus."