NORTON, Mass. -- Jason Day seems to be the only member of today’s “Big 3” yet to receive the comma and “next Tiger Woods” title after his name, which is understandable since he has just one major title to Rory McIlroy’s four and Jordan Spieth’s two.
Could Jason Day be the real ‘next’ Tiger Woods?
There will likely never be another Tiger Woods but Jason Day’s protege-mentor relationship with the 14-time major winner puts him in the running for that nonsensical title.
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Day is also the eldest of the trio the golf punditry has tagged as the next Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, so called because of the way they dominated the game in the 1960s. At 27 (to Rory’s 26 and Jordan’s 22), the impressive Australian would have to win a slew of grand slam events in a hurry to join the conversation about who has any real chance of catching Tiger’s 14 or chasing down Jack’s 18 major victories.
He has also yet to ascend to the top ranking in the sport. But both McIlroy (the actual No. 1) and Spieth (king for two weeks) already consider Day ahead of the pack. After all, he enters this week’s Deutsche Bank Championship after three wins in his last four starts, including going back-to-back at the PGA and last week’s Barclays, and could earn “No. 1 in the world” honors by Monday.
“I believe that Jason is No. 1 right now,” Spieth said on Thursday from TPC Boston. “I mean who would argue that after last week? He’s playing the best of anybody right now. Until somebody dethrones him, hopefully me this week, he’s still that guy to beat right now.”
Then there was that record-breaking score Day carded on his way to lifting the Wanamaker Trophy last month -- a victory that inspired a rare congratulatory tweet from his sensei.
Game over, very happy for Jason. Great dude and well deserved. Hats off to Jordan, incredible season. Calling it early.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) August 16, 2015 “Jason,” McIlroy reminded reporters at TPC Boston “shot the lowest score in major championship history, 20-under par.”
The “next Tiger” discussion is always amusing, considering how unlikely it is that any member of the new generation of young guns -- talented and driven as they are -- will achieve anything close to what Woods has in his illustrious career. There are those 14 majors (second only to Nicklaus), 79 PGA Tour wins (runner-up to Sam Snead’s 82), seven straight tour wins (only Byron Nelson had more, with 11), nine tour wins in one season (tied for fifth and looking up at Nelson’s 18) -- among other incredible stats.
Given that the odds are heavily stacked against the second coming of Tiger by Rory, Jordan, Jason or any kid eagerly watching today’s stars the way Woods’ wannabes studied him, it’s intriguing to note that Day has taken on the role of Eldrick’s protege.
Day ascribes much of his impressive recent success to the friendship he has struck up with Woods. He and the guy who owned the top ranking for a record 683 weeks in his career played the first two rounds of the Open Championship with each other, practice together and regularly exchange text messages. Day even seemed to leak state secrets when he wondered, ahead of the U.S. Open, about Tiger’s motivation.
On Thursday at the Deutsche Bank, Day expanded on the nature of his texting relationship with Woods.
“We talk about family every now and then, but it’s mainly just golf just trying to shoot to get better,” Day said. “If I think of a question I’ll just shoot it to him. I may hear it that day or I may hear in a day or two.”
Not that the advice from the technically minded Woods is always the easiest to decipher. Day, of course, is more than willing to cull what he can about what it takes to succeed from one of the sharpest minds in the game.
“His text messages, I have to digest them a little bit more, because he is very smart. He has to kind of dumb it down to my level, man, you’re saying these words, I’ve got to try to think them through,” said Day. “To be able to receive text messages and ask him questions and him being so open towards me has been fantastic.”
Even with Day’s recent success and Woods’ struggles, the winner of four tour events recognizes the dynamics of the relationship.
“He’s been ... arguably one of the best players of all time,” said Day, currently ranked third in the world. “Who wouldn’t want that mentorship from a player like that?”
Who, indeed? The potential heir apparent certainly would.
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