This article is part of our Weekly PGA Recap series.
There will never be another Tiger Woods, even after Tiger Woods comes back to golf. So what's the next best thing? How about a golfer with all the talent in the world who gets a rare look at what was going on inside Woods' head during his two decades of dominance?
Jason Day rolled to victory at The Players Championship on Sunday, giving him seven wins in his past 17 starts dating to last summer. That stretch includes a major, a WGC and two FedEx Cup playoff events. Australian countryman Adam Scott referred to it as "Tigeresque."
Now, before we go any further, Jason Day is not the next Tiger Woods; he won't be the next Tiger Woods. But he's surely putting together a 10-month run – still a small sample size – that we hadn't seen since …
Day has developed a friendship with Woods in which the 29-year-old gets to text and speak with the 40-year-old.
"It's been an amazing kind of journey for me to be able to idolize him as a junior guy and growing up, and now I'm good mates with him and I get to pick his brain about what he did when he was dominating," Day told reporters at TPC Sawgrass.
That's the golf equivalent of the keys to Fort Knox.
Day said Woods has shared many components of what it's like to be at the top of the golf world, far beyond what goes on inside the ropes. We're talking everything from
There will never be another Tiger Woods, even after Tiger Woods comes back to golf. So what's the next best thing? How about a golfer with all the talent in the world who gets a rare look at what was going on inside Woods' head during his two decades of dominance?
Jason Day rolled to victory at The Players Championship on Sunday, giving him seven wins in his past 17 starts dating to last summer. That stretch includes a major, a WGC and two FedEx Cup playoff events. Australian countryman Adam Scott referred to it as "Tigeresque."
Now, before we go any further, Jason Day is not the next Tiger Woods; he won't be the next Tiger Woods. But he's surely putting together a 10-month run – still a small sample size – that we hadn't seen since …
Day has developed a friendship with Woods in which the 29-year-old gets to text and speak with the 40-year-old.
"It's been an amazing kind of journey for me to be able to idolize him as a junior guy and growing up, and now I'm good mates with him and I get to pick his brain about what he did when he was dominating," Day told reporters at TPC Sawgrass.
That's the golf equivalent of the keys to Fort Knox.
Day said Woods has shared many components of what it's like to be at the top of the golf world, far beyond what goes on inside the ropes. We're talking everything from mental preparation to training to the pressures of being No. 1 to media scrutiny, etc.
Day led wire-to-wire at The Players and, in a hallmark of Wood's game, closed out a 54-hole lead for the fourth straight time. As we see time and again on tour, the success rate for that is not nearly as good as we might expect.
The Aussie has now distanced himself from world No. 2 Jordan Spieth, who missed the cut at Sawgrass, and No. 3 Rory McIlroy – and, really, everyone else. McIlroy is so far behind Day in the OWGR point calculations, he's actually closer to No. 14 Hideki Matsuyama than to Day.
We will soon embark on an unprecedented two-month stretch of golf: U.S. Open, WGC-Bridgestone, Open Championship, PGA Championship, Olympics. And then the FedEx Cup playoffs in the fall. At that point, it will be fascinating to check where Day stands in relation to the rest of the world.
But for now, we'll see Day next in three weeks at the Memorial, a tournament where you-know-who has a pretty good track record.
MONDAY TAKEAWAY
Kevin Chappell
Chappell quietly was runner-up to Day, albeit four strokes back. But it was his best tournament showing ever and his third second-place finish of a breakthrough season. Chappell is fifth in the point standings and has zoomed to No. 33 in the world, which will get him into all the big tournaments the rest of the season. Seemingly, a maiden PGA Tour victory is within reach. But as we see all too often, the figurative distance between winning and runner-up can be enormous.
Justin Thomas
Thomas shot the best score of the final round, a 7-under 65, to share third place with three others. It was long overdue for Thomas, who had had only one top-25 since February. He's now sixth in the FedEx, 27th in the OWGR and sixth months removed from his first PGA Tour win. But at this stage, Thomas' game seems too erratic to contend in the biggest events (he didn't contend at Sawgrass). That's not to say he doesn't has fantasy value. Just temper any expectations.
Matt Kuchar
Ever so quietly, Kuchar has been slipping from the sport's elite. Tying for third at The Players was his best showing of the year and moved him to only 34th in the point standings. Remarkably, he's still 23rd in the world. But he hasn't won in more than two years. Kuchar will still occasionally contend and perhaps even win, though only at courses that suit his game – i.e., tracks that don't favor the longest hitters. On the bright side, Kuchar is awesome in those Skechers commercials.
Colt Knost
Knost also tied for third, equaling his best career showing. He's enjoying his best season, with only one MC in 16 starts. But like Kuchar, this result was at least partly a function of the course, and Knost will do better where driving distance is not paramount.
Russell Knox
You could argue that Knox had the second best week in the field. He tied for 19th at 5-under, 10 strokes behind Day, by shooting 68-67-80-68. That 80 included a 9 on the par-3 17th, where Knox sent three balls into the water. Who knows, if you take away that hole, he may have put some pressure on Day on Sunday. Regardless, it was a great tournament for Knox, and he was coming off a T2 in his previous start at RBC Heritage. Knox may be back on track after a poor five-month stretch.
Henrik Stenson
Stenson missing the cut at Quail Hollow, where he doesn't play well, is one thing. Missing a second straight cut at The Players, where he has won and historically has played great, is quite another. His website says his next start will be the Nordea Masters in his native Sweden at the beginning of June before resuming PGA Tour action at the U.S. Open two weeks later. Stay tuned.
Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson
McIlroy made the cut (T12), and the other three didn't, and that's an important distinction. But there's something amiss in each of their games. Spieth returned from a month-long break after the Masters debacle, beginning a four-week run of tournaments that will culminate with the Memorial next month. He plays this week at the Byron Nelson in his native Texas, but there's still scar tissue from No. 12 at Augusta. Fowler has six top-10s, Mickelson has four. They both tied for fourth the week before at the Wells Fargo, then trunk-slammed at Sawgrass. You can get whiplash looking at their scorecards and results. McIlroy has been more consistent in that he's not missing cuts and having generally high finishes. But he's not really contending for titles. The bottom line is: These four stars have one win total among them in 2016, and that was by Spieth in January. The distance between Day and them seems pretty substantial right now.
Tiger Woods
Appearing at the Quicken Loans National media day on Monday morning, Woods said he continues to practice and play at home, but has no timetable to return to the tour. He's still on the mend from his third back surgery, back in October. Woods said it is frustrating, especially with the upcoming schedule featuring courses he has had great success on, among them Muirfield and Firestone. The general consensus in the golf community is that Woods is taking the right approach, not rushing back until he is completely healthy. It sounds as if we're still a long way from seeing him in competition.
