Australia’s Jason Day grabs world number one ranking

He posted a 20-under 193 total with one round left in the third of the PGA Tour’s four FedExCup playoff events. Third-place Scott Piercy wound up one shot behind Berger after a 70. If Day wins the FedEx Cup this week he has a strong case of being Player of the Year.

Summerhays was awarded 114 points for his tie for 42nd finish, but if he’d shot one stroke better, he would have received 126 points and edged English by 10 points.

Day becomes the youngest Aussie to reach number one and the third in history behind Greg Norman and Adam Scott. Henrik Stenson had a powerful season in 2013, but it was his two playoff wins, along with one in Europe, that propelled him to both the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai titles.

He would be the first global player with five wins on the American circuit since Vijay Singh, of Fiji, won nine times in 2004.

“I remember sitting on my mom’s bed and thinking that (predicting he’d be No. 1 someday) might not go over too well”, laughed Day, who turns 28 next month. Horschel bucked that trend previous year as well though as his PA ranking was only 13th and he ranked only seventh 7th for Par Three Scoring when eight of the 14 East Lake winners before him had played the short holes better than anyone else. 2015 was a great year to be a golf fan and we can only hope for more of the same next year and in the future.

He also has an opportunity to pass reigning US Open and Masters champ Spieth for player of the year honours. When Rickie Fowler was asked to pick between the two, he replied, “I’m glad it’s not my decision” – forgetting that he’ll have to cast a ballot at season’s end.

While Day won his first PGA Tour event in 2010, he would fail to close the deal in several majors over the following years.

Day did most of his damage on the opening two days, reaching halfway at an incredible 18 under, and even a couple of less impressive rounds on the weekend never looked like stopping him.

Steve Allan finished as the leading Australian this week as he had last week and he is in 17th position needing to be inside the top 25 by the completion of the Tour Championship if he is to be back on the PGA Tour. Or has Jordan Spieth done enough?

Spieth, on the other hand, finished 11 under and in a tie for 13th.

“He’s a top-four D and he’s going to be a top-two D at some point”, Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli said via the team’s website.