Day will be aiming for a fourth title of 2016 at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin this week, and he is expecting nothing less than a challenge to win.
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The top three remain Day, Spieth and McIlroy, the same order it has been since Day first went back to No. 1 on March 27 when he won the Dell Match Play in Texas.
Nicklaus was being asked how golf’s new “Big Three” of Jason Day, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy compare to golf’s original “Big Three” of himself, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, but he cut off the question before it was done.
Dustin Johnson holds a one-shot lead heading into the second round of the Memorial Tournament after posting an impressive 64 in Ohio.
He walked off the course with a two-stroke lead with fellow bomber Hudson Swafford, whose front-nine 29 tied a tournament record.
The other part of the Big Three lagged behind.
Spieth’s putter saved him in a scrappy round of 70.
McIlroy, like Spieth a tournament victor in his most recent start after clinching the European Tour’s Irish Open 11 days ago, salvaged an erratic day with a birdie-birdie finish. I hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens, and that’s what made that tournament.
Rory McIlroy, who won two weeks ago at the Irish Open, played with Spieth and never got any momentum.
McIlroy’s round featured six birdies, three bogeys and a double-bogey on 16.
“I feel like to coming into golf courses like here where the greens are really quick, and obviously Oakmont where the greens were ridiculously fast, I felt like to give myself the best chance of having a little bit more feel and a little bit more visualization and stuff, I just needed go back to what I’ve done for most of my career”.
Jason Day had the golf world’s stage to his own after the world No. 1 left the other two members of the so-called “Big 3” in his wake following his Players Championship victory two weeks ago.
Mediate broke through with the PGA Tour Champions major victory almost eight years after losing the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines to Tiger Woods on the first extra hole after an 18-hole playoff.
Johnson combined his massive length off the tee with some improved wedge play and added a hot putter for his lowest score in 31 rounds at the Memorial. The difference is he had more putts for birdie.
By the end, however, McIlroy had holed a few morale-raising putts, including three in the last four holes from the vital eight to 10-foot range.
“I was probably a little anxious over the first putt because that’s the first time I’ve done it in competition for a while”, he said. “I felt like I putted pretty well after that”.
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Despite the efforts of compatriot Brendan Steele, who is a shot further back on seven under par, Johnson maintained that advantage and heads into the second day at Muirfield Village in good spirits.
