Jason Day Delivers Stark Reality Check on Balancing Family And Pro Golf Life: ‘I Don’t Get to Be a Dad’

Pro golfers are out on the road more than they’d like. This takes a toll on their family time. So, whenever they can steal away some time, in between tournaments, they do. Just like how Scottie Scheffler is doing right now, or how he did before the Ryder Cup. Now, Jason Day has been away from the course for some time, too. His injuries forced him to. But he made the most of it, spending time with his family, which he is unable to do while playing.

Day, who played last in the BMW Championship, describing his time away from the Tour, told Todd Lewis how catching up on family time was one of the to-do items on his mind.

“They don’t see me much when the season is on…I don’t get to be dad all year around because of the season,” he told Todd.

How does that help, Lewis further asked him. To this, Day can’t help but reply with brutal honesty.

“I can finally be a dad again. That is one of the most important things. Obviously, they travel with me as well and homeschool on the road. We are in a bus together. It is nice to have them on the road with me,” he shared.

This single sentence can easily sum up what many players on the Tour feel and go through. Golf might look like a leisurely profession on the outside, but for players like Day, who’s a husband and a father, it often means dividing your life into two.

Day, who is now inching towards 40, has never missed an opportunity to emphasize the importance of family in his life. Over 15 years of marriage, he and his wife Ellie have built their lives around their five children – Dash, Lucy, Arrow, Oz, and their newest addition Winnie. Among them, Dash is already following his father’s footsteps.

Now 13, he is already playing in the PGA Junior League and developing his own passion for the game. Yet, he can’t help but wonder about the attention his father gets.

“He asked if I was a celebrity the other day,” Day once recalled. “I told him no, because I want him to look at me like his dad instead of a celebrity.”

This distinction, as one can now see, has always mattered for Day. Long before the Australian was a major champion or world No. 1, he built his career around a simple philosophy – family first, golf second. Even in his 2015 Players’ Tribune letter to his younger self, he wrote on similar lines.

“Parenting is a complex skill beyond your wildest imagination. Your golf is going to suffer a little. Be ready for that. Parenting a newborn while trying to compete at the highest level of a sport… It’s nearly impossible.”

And he stuck to that.

Even as his schedule tightened over the years, Day kept his family close, travelling with him because otherwise it would get “too lonely” as he once admitted. This season itself, before injury and throwing him off, Day was able to deliver top-10 finishes at The Masters (T8) and the Arnold Palmer Invitational (T8). He then posted a T3 at the American Express and had a solo fourth at the Travelers Championship. And back when he’s home, his 11-acre home – “The Barn” – provides him with an option to train in his private practice facility without missing too many bedtimes.

And this balance of two lives is not just something that Day has coped with. Rickie Fowler recently articulated how he, too, travels with his wife and two young daughters. They often rent houses wherever he’s playing, while managing their day-to-day schedules. “It’s tough,” he acknowledged without sugarcoating. “There’s a lot to try and squeeze in on prep days and then tournament days, and then also spending time with the family and having them on the road.”

For Day, too, the struggle is the same. Golf demands total commitment, but so does being present as a father. And there’s only so much one man can give. That is why he can never be more thankful to his wife, Ellie.

Ellie Day’s quiet strength in Jason Day’s journey

Behind every one of Jason Day’s drives, trophies, and comebacks stands the steady presence of his wife, Ellie – the person he’s called his greatest source of strength through every chapter of his career. Their love story started when Ellie was just 19, and since then, she has been a constant anchor in his life.

Life has, of course, not spared them heartbreak. Although they’re blessed with five lovely kids, Ellie had suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage back in 2017. In an emotional Instagram post, she wrote about the raw pain that engulfed her. “I snuck out the back door of my doctor, a hot, sobbing, mascara-covered mess… wondering why this wouldn’t just be over.” Yet, she still stood firm.

Day later said, “The amount of sacrifices she’s made for me and my career, I just can’t thank her enough. She never gave up on me trying to get back to the winner’s circle again.” When he finally did get back to the winner’s circle – at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson, on Mother’s Day – his voice cracked as he thanked his wife and his late mother.

That same year, when she was pregnant with Winnie, Ellie encouraged Jason to keep playing instead of coming back home. These are reasons why Jason Day cannot find enough words to be grateful to her. “My wife is, you know, hats off to my wife, because she does all that work.”