Golf in good hands, except there is too many hands to count

Australia’s Jason Day created history, and prevented Jordan Spieth from doing so, by ending a run of near-misses with a brilliant first major victory in the U.S. PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on Sunday. Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Day are Nos.

Brian Spurlock/USA Today Sports The PGA Tour is thriving right now with the likes of Rory McIlroy leading the pack of exciting young golfers. Day rose to third. Day is the old man in the group. Spieth is just 22. In spite of the tension and the stakes, they actually talked and laughed with each other.

“But Jason just flat out played great“. The ’40s gave us Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, and Ben Hogan.

The standard for consistency is Jack Nicklaus. Golf has some new faces and they are here to stay.

“I can’t say for sure, but I think he is”, said Day, who was 20 at the time.

He held the 54-hole lead at the last three majors before this breakthrough win.

Here’s what I noticed about Jordan Spieth in yesterday’s final round.

“It was tough”, Day admitted.

“I’m still hoping that my best golf is ahead of me but, at the same time, you look at the future and everybody’s getting younger”. Spieth lived up to the occasion by posting 17-under par. Records are meant to be broken and this shows progress for Indian golf.

But that record wasn’t on Spieth’s mind.

“And as I said over there, the residual swelling that just sort of comes from activity, that probably won’t go away for another two or three months, but it’s nothing to worry about”. “I tried to play to be in that position and it really is a true honor (to be No. 1), it’s the highest honor I think, the highest title in our sport”.

“I’ve played the best golf of my life since I turned 30”, the world number five said in a telephone interview from his home in the Bahamas, as he confirmed his participation in the European Tour’s Hong Kong Open in October.

Impressive, indeed. And riveting. But after the fourth hole, he was never closer than three shots. He can no longer be labeled the best golfer without a major. “That all just comes with playing a bit more”.

At No. 16, Day blasted a driver 313 yards down the left fairway, hit a 4-iron some 226 yards to onto the green and two-putted for birdie.

“The tee shot on 11, if he gets a little off line there, either way, he has to lay up”, Spieth said.

“I would absolutely love to play Jordan in the singles”, Day said.

“Overall, I’m just pleased with how things went for me”.

The world’s top-ranked player called in to ESPN’s SportsCenter Tuesday morning, and among the things the Texan was asked was what he considers his highlight of the 2015 major season.

In the days after the PGA Championship, the biggest story in golf should have been Jason Day.

Not bad for a poor kid from Queensland whose mom used a knife to cut the grass when they couldn’t afford to fix their lawnmower. I remember not having a hot water tank, so we had to use a kettle for hot showers.

“I feel like I progressed each and every day“.