Factbox: Australia's new world number one Jason Day

(Reuters) - Factbox on Australian Jason Day, who became golf's new world number one after winning the BMW Championship on Sunday. EARLY LIFE Born: Nov. 12, 1987 in Beaudesert, a small rural town in Australia's eastern state of Queensland, to an Irish-Australian father and Filippino mother. His father Alvin, a struggling meat plant worker, gave him his first golf club at the age of six after finding it at a local rubbish dump. Before Day was a teenager, his father had died of stomach cancer. Day developed a drinking problem at 12 and started getting into fights at school. His mother borrowed money to send him to a boarding school which had a golf course attached. Australia's first U.S. Masters champion, Adam Scott, had also been a student there. GOING PROFESSIONAL Tiger Woods was Day's inspiration as a teenager and he began to model his own practice regime on that of the American great. He dominated Australia's amateur circuit before turning professional in 2006, making five of his first six cuts on the U.S. PGA Tour. In 2010, his breakout season, he won his first U.S. Tour event at the Byron Nelson Championship as a 22-year-old, made the top 10 at his first PGA Championship and qualified for the season-ending Tour Championship. MAJOR HEARTBREAK At his Masters debut the following year, he finished joint runner-up with compatriot Scott behind Charl Schwartzel. Another runner-up finish behind Rory McIlroy followed at his debut U.S. Open. He subsequently broke into the world top 10. Heartbreaking near-misses continued at the majors, and he squandered a winning position to lose the 2013 Masters to Scott and was runner-up behind Justin Rose at the U.S. Open that year. FAMILY TRAGEDY In November 2013, his maternal grandmother and another seven relatives were killed by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. Weeks later, a grief-stricken Day won the World Cup of Golf at Royal Melbourne. MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH Kicked off his 2015 season with a third U.S. Tour win at the Farmers Insurance Open in February but his hopes of a maiden major win at the U.S. Open were dashed by an attack of vertigo. Day missed a putt that would have put him in a four-way tie for a playoff at the British Open but finally broke through for his long-awaited major win at the U.S. PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. Staying cool in the face of a charging Jordan Spieth, Day's 20-under total was a record at the majors. TOP OF THE WORLD Day rode his hot streak to victory at The Barclays, the opener in the four-tournament FedExCup playoff series, to join Spieth and McIlroy in a battle for the world's top ranking. A tired Day's bid stalled at the Deutsche Bank Championship, but he returned two weeks later to post a stunning wire-to-wire win at the BMW Championship, the third FedExCup event, on Sunday. The six-stroke win made him the third Australian to take the world number one ranking, following Greg Norman and Scott. (Compiled by Ian Ransom; Editing by Peter Rutherford)