Jordan Spieth deserves that much for helping to make the PGA Championship such a good show. Woods finished at 19-under when he captured the 2000 British Open at St. Andrews.
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What Spieth doesn’t have yet is the Wanamaker Trophy.
The standard for consistency is Jack Nicklaus.
It seems miscalculated, perhaps even cruel, to catalog Spieth’s play this week as a disappointment.
Day’s only real blemishes for the day came at the 8th which he bogeyed and the par four 15th when he missed the fairway left and the green right and could not save par from 10 feet.
NANCE HAXTON: Australian golfing legend Greg Norman highlighted the significance of the win with a tweet soon after, saying ‘Congratulations to my fellow Queenslander and his attractive family’. And a third. And a fourth.
In 2011 a surging Charl Schwartzel denied him at the Masters before his fourth major start at the US Open saw him unable to catch Rory McIlroy.
We may well be witnessing the beginning of a new era led by a generation that Tiger inspired and we possibly also have a new big three in golf in Day, McIlroy and Spieth.
Day faced enormous pressure of having a lead for the first time going into the final round, trying to avoid becoming the first player since the PGA Championship went to stroke play in 1958 to have at least a share of the 54-hole lead in three straight majors without winning.
But he wasn’t thinking of possibilities-rather, of achievement.
“I accomplished one of my lifelong goals”, he said, which sounded rather amusing, since his lifetime has been all of 22 years. Day’s tee shot appeared to be headed for deep rough, which would likely negate a chance to reach the par-5 in two. “The experiences that I’ve had in the past with previous Major finishes has definitely helped me prepare myself for a moment like this”. The U.S. Open was very – it was a tough task for me, but I really thought The Open Championship was going to be mine. One door closed, but another opened.
That consistency has also yielded another impressive benefit. “I’ll always be a number one player in the world”, added the American.
“Honestly the way Jordan has been playing and the way I haven’t played much this year, I think that was only my 12th or 13th event”. That’s what I’ll look back on, the consistency. In the end, it was Day’s dream that came true as the Australian broke through to win his first major.
And there’s certainly no sense that he won’t be able to keep the momentum going.
“It was fantastic. You only get four a year”. And so to win this one, the last major for the year; it’s a culmination of all the hard work.
‘I’ve had a few close things and now it feels so special to get over the line and win one. He has to ask for a corner booth in restaurants. “There were some mistakes here and there, but overall I hit a lot of good quality iron shots, hit a lot of great drives out there, drove the ball really well”. I’m exhausted right now.
“There’s a reason I have a receding hairline”. “And there’s not many coaches that can say that in many sports”. The depth of talent on the PGA Tour is greater than any time in history. I feel that the game is keeping up and the standard of golf that I’m playing is showing.
Tiger Woods was 21 when he went to No. 1 in 1997. I mean, I wasn’t out there dying, but I felt pretty very bad.
Major championships and consistency.
Jordan Spieth falters and leaves it short but Day nails it.
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Art Spander is a victor of the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism from the PGA of America.
