The 27-year-old Day fired a final round of five under par 67 to take his tally 20 under par for the tournament. 

New world number Jason Spieth’s purple patch continued to finish in second on 17 under par to take the number one ranking from Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlory.

This year Spieth won both the Masters and US Open as well as finished runner-up at the Open and the PGA Championship.

South Africa’s Brandon Grace earned his highest ever finish at a major by claiming the sole third place on 15 under par, while George Coetzee shared tied 7th on 12 under par.

Days says his close shaves during the year's three previous majors set him up for the win on the shores of Lake Michigan.

“The biggest thing that prepares you for this is just the shear experience of failure and looking at failure not as a negative but as a positive, knowing that you can learn from anything even if it’s bad or good.

“That really gets you mentally tough…being close at the US Open, being close at the Open Championship this year, being close at Augusta.

“I feel that all these experiences was going to set me up for something big in the future and for me it happened this week, and that’s from those experiences that I had…it made me mentally tough and really understand what I needed to do.

Former world number one McIlroy, who returned after an ankle injury lay-off, finished alone in 17th place on 9 under par.

McIlroy's finish, coupled with Spieth's runner-up spot, saw the the 21-year-old Texan move to the top of the standings.

Morgan Piek / OFM News