The Day They Feared Has Arrived

Ever since the dawn of the Tiger Woods Era, the pro golf tour has grappled with the fact that there was a player out there, Woods, who was so good that, if he was playing somewhat close to his A-game, the rest of them didn’t have a chance to win. While everyone else would struggle to post four rounds worth of cumulative tournament scores of seven to eight under par, Woods would slap four rounds in the mid 60’s together and post a tournament winning score around 15 to 20 under.

Tiger Woods putting together 79 PGA Tour wins and 14 majors in a span of about a 15 year prime was pretty solid evidence that he was simply BETTER than everyone else and they all knew it. In fact, you could say Woods terrorized all the other golfers about the same way Jason terrorized all the teenagers in the Friday the 13th movies.

But something crazy happened. Tiger Woods either declined, got old, or simply got “normal” right before our eyes and the rest of the professional golf playing world breathed a collective sigh of relief and saw a vacuum at the top of the food chain once again. It seemed like, for a brief amount of time at least, that there was a level playing field again, and maybe, they all had a chance at winning again.

But then, Rory McIlroy stepped up his game and started shooting those same scores of 15 to 20 under that Woods used to shoot and stormed to the top of the golfing food chain. He won a quick four majors before the rest of the golf world could blink and became the “new” man that everyone knew was better than them. He became so good, that once, during a Ryder Cup match, he showed up to the first tee so late that he didn’t have time to warm up or practice and just played a Ryder Cup match cold turkey. He dusted Keegan Bradley without even breaking a sweat. Too good.

And Rory McIlroy then made the mistake of taking his amazing golf talent for granted. He started getting a little sloppy. After winning the last two majors of 2014, he failed to show up sharp in the first two majors of 2015. Then, he severely injured his ankle and had to miss the British Open and was less than effective for the rest of the year. His 15 to 20 under scores seemed to be a thing in the past. McIlroy was bordering on ordinary again, at least until he got his health (and edge) back again.

McIlroy’s demise coincided with the emergence of (then) 21 year old Jordan Spieth. All Spieth did was win the 2015 Masters with a score of 18 under par. On anything other than tricked up U.S. Open courses, 15 to 20 under is the new winning score for majors. Jordan Spieth won the U.S. Open also. He almost won the British Open, missing out on a playoff by one stroke (the winning, tying score to get you into a playoff at St. Andrews was 15 under).

Spieth had just an amazing 2015. He won the first two majors. He finished one stroke out of a playoff at the British Open and finished tied for fourth place.  At one point, he passed up McIlroy’s one time nearly insurmountable lead in the world golf ranking to become the number one player in the world. HE now was the new best player going. He finished up his 2015 major season with a score of 17 under par in the PGA Championship. That should have been enough to win. 17 under at a major? Not enough to win? But his great score was only good enough for second place.

For somewhere between the British Open and the PGA, Jason Day, always a guy with a sweet golf swing and a whole world full of talent, but a guy who never really could put the whole package together, somehow, finally figured out the secret to golfing greatness. Day, who had won twice in his eight or so years on the PGA Tour, won his third tournament earlier this year and then simply blasted off into the golfing stratosphere after learning a lesson at the British Open.

During that British Open, Day had about a 15 to 20 (there’s that number again) foot putt on the last hole of the tournament that would have put him into a tie for the playoff. He left it a few inches short and ended up in a tie for 4th place (with Spieth). Day got into a similar situation in the Canadian Open the following week with him needing to make another putt on the last hole of about 15 to 20 feet that would give him the win if he made it. This time, he putted as if he HAD to win the tournament. He made it. He won the Canadian Open with a score of 17 under par.

Day then made his really big splash when he played superb golf for all four days and won the PGA Championship, his first major, with a record score (in a major) of 20 under par. (The player he defeated in the PGA was one Jordan Spieth, who finished at the previously mentioned 17 under.) Day later followed up his great end of the season splurge with a couple of more wins (over the best players in the world) at two of the Fed Ex playoff tournaments, the Barclays and the BMW. His final winning scores? 19 and 22 under par.

That’s four wins in his last six tournaments. Four wins, with scores of 17, 20, 19 and 22 under. That’s play at a level no one has seen since the great prime years of Tiger Woods. Unless you include the great run Rory McIlroy had. Or the one fabulous year that Jordan Spieth now has under his belt.

Both McIlroy and Spieth are in their twenties. They aren’t going anywhere. They have the potential every time out to shoot that 15 to 20 under it takes to win big tournaments these days. Jason Day (now Number One) has joined them atop the Mt. Olympus of golf as they rank as the top three players in the world. They all have pushed the bar up so high that the levels needed to win now are higher than they have ever been.

Jason Day, though, might even have surpassed the all time, high quality playing levels of Woods, McIlroy and Spieth. Right now, he might be playing better than anyone else has ever played. As the best players in the world have gathered for the Fed Ex Cup playoffs, Day has lapped the field with a pair of six stroke victories. His last time out, the usual winning score of about 16 under wasn’t even close to him as he shot 22 under par. His first two rounds were a 61 and a 63, 18 under par after 36 holes. In other words, to beat Day, you have to shoot near course records… for four rounds.

So, there’s a new Tiger Woods clone out there, shooting lights out scores, breaking records, winning everything in sight, and terrorizing the golf world just like the teenagers in those Friday the 13th movies. Everyone knew that there was going to be a day when this new super golfer would come along to replace Tiger as a generational talent that was the best golfer on the planet. In the end, who’d have thought that the Day that everybody feared might come would actually arrive and would actually be named Jason?