The Roar
The Roar

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Jason Day shows he is ready to take on Jordan Spieth

Jason Day is in a good position at the US PGA Championship (Photo: AP)
Expert
12th January, 2016
2

Jason Day hadn’t played a round of golf for three months when he teed off in the first round of the annual Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, Hawaii.

So it was no surprise when the 27-year-old Australian carded 70, 73, 69 in the first three rounds – he was rusty.

But yesterday Day was back to his exciting best firing in the best round of the day, a flawless 65 finding every green in regulation with an eagle, and six birdies.

Spieth was the tearaway winner with 66, 64, 65, 67 to finish eight shots clear of defending champion Patrick Reed.

Spieth’s 30-under fell just short of Ernie Els’ record 31-under set in 2003.

But it was Spieth’s seventh title under 23 years of age to equal Tiger Woods. As Spieth won’t be 23 until July, you can safely say the 22-year-old will leave Woods in his wake.

“It’s too early to start comparing me with Tiger Woods,” the always modest Spieth said at the presentation.

“But I was very comfortable all week, content to continue on what we did last year”.

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So fasten your seat-belts golf fans, 2016 will be the biggest year in the history of golf with Spieth, Day, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Bubba Watson, and Dustin Johnson poised for a titanic year of birdie blitz golf.

The four majors lead the way:

The 80th US Masters at Augusta – April 7-10.

The 116th US Open at Oakmont – June 16-19.

The 145th Open at Royal Troon – July 10-17.

And the 98th USPGA at Baltusrol – July 28-31.

For the first time since 1909, golf returns to the Olympic Games at exotic Rio de Janeiro – August 5-21.

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Then the 41st Ryder Cup at Hazeltine – September 30 to October 2.

And the wrap-around 2015-2016 season finishes with the rich FedExCup.

Jason Day will be involved in all those huge tournaments except the Ryder Cup, when all the other big name contenders will be right in the thick of it.

Not since the halcyon days of Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus has there been such super fire-power talent on show.

And Spieth (22), Day (28), McIlroy (26), Fowler (27), and Reed (24) have many years in front of them battling each other while the big bombers Watson (37) and Dustin Johnson (31) can never be discounted.

All of those named will be in contention for the first Olympic golfing gold in 107 years.

So who will be in the Rio field?

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The top 15 in the world rankings will automatically qualify for Rio, irrespective of the number of countries they represent.

As it sits today the top 15 are Spieth, Day, McIlroy, Watson, Henrik Stenson, Fowler, Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Jim Furyk, Patrick Reed, Adam Scott. Sergio Garcia, Zach Johnson, Branden Grace, and Hideki Matsuyama.

The other 45 in the final field will represent countries that do not have two reps in the top 15.

Those qualifications apply to both men and women.

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