THE Jason Day story is a fascinating rags-to-riches tale that would make for a compelling Hollywood film. It’s now well publicised that, after a troubled childhood, Day met the girl of his dreams and rose to become the world’s No.1 golfer.
What’s intriguing is how Jason’s relationship with Ellie Harvey unfolded. It’s a charming story that involves a reality TV golf show, Hoover vacuum cleaners and a matchmaking Australian mind coach.
The seeds were sown back in 2003 when Jason visited Melbourne as one of the participants on ‘The Cut’, a reality golf show that appeared on the Seven Network. The skills-based elimination series culminated with 15-year-old Jason defeating Justin Roach in a playoff.
Mind coach Sean Lynch [inset] was involved in the production as an adviser. The first kid he met upon walking 
through the door at Victoria Golf Club was Jason. They developed a friendly rapport during 10 days of filming and it was Lynch who later arranged an invitation for Jason to play the Australian Master of the Amateurs.
While on ‘The Cut’, Jason’s extraordinary skills drew the attention of several coaches. However Lynch felt it was in his best interests to stay with current mentor Col Swatton. Although he hadn’t met Swatton, Lynch rang to alert the Gold Coast teacher that attempts were being made to recruit his star pupil. That selfless act created a bond between the trio.
The interest in Day was justified. In 2004 he captured the Australian Boys’ Amateur Championship and the overall boy’s title at the Callaway Junior World Golf Championships in San Diego. He continued to leave his mark over the next 18 months.
Then after turning 18, Day won the 2006 Master of the Amateurs and – with little more to prove on the amateur scene – made a bold leap into the pro ranks in July 2006.
By that stage, Lynch had moved to America to open a peak performance academy with Swatton at a golf facility just south of Cleveland. His brother Mark Lynch, who lived in Ballarat, had introduced him to John Hoover, the great grandson of the Hoover vacuum cleaner founder. That led to an opportunity to set up the golf academy near Akron, Ohio, where the Hoover family used to employ 8,000 people.
Swatton came to live with Lynch while they established an academy at Two Club Golf (now called Windmill Golf Centre), which had a two-storey clubhouse, magnificent driving range and 27 pitch-and-putt holes.
To chill out, Lynch and Swatton would visit Mavis Winkle’s Irish Pub where Ellie Harvey used to work as a barmaid while she was studying to become a beautician.
“She was really a lot of fun and was very nice to us, being Aussies. Colin and I would
often go there for dinner or lunch because we were working at the Hoover driving range,” Lynch recalls.
“We’d been telling Ellie, ‘We’re going to introduce you to this young Aussie boy – Jason from Australia.’ Then when he did come over, we introduced them.”
That occurred when Day came to stay with Lynch and Swatton for a couple of months in 2006 before he went to Q-school and acquired conditional status to play the Nationwide Tour (now Web.com Tour).
Jason and Ellie really liked each other, but it took another 12 months for romance to blossom.
In July 2007, John Hoover brought Ellie along to watch Jason play the final round of the Legend Financial Group Classic at Stonewater Golf Course near Cleveland. As fate would have it, Day claimed the title to become the youngest winner on any of the US PGA Tour’s three circuits.
“Jason won it and they celebrated that night. And since then they’ve been inseparable,” Lynch says.
Jason and Ellie married in 2009 and they now live in Columbus, Ohio, with their two children, Dash and Lucy.
That wasn’t the end of Lynch’s matchmaking. He played cupid once more to set up Swatton with his American wife Lisa, whom he met through Ricky Ponting’s manager in Augusta.
But we also have a reality TV golf show and Hoover vacuum cleaners to thank for two of the great partnerships in Australian golf.
