Jordan Spieth has replaced Rory McIlroy as world number one after finishing second to Jason Day in the US PGA Championship.
McIlroy finished 17th at Whistling Straits on his return to action following the ankle injury which kept him out of the Open and Bridgestone Invitational, two tournaments he won last year.
And that meant Spieth became the second youngest player after Tiger Woods to top the rankings, despite being unable to claim a record-equalling third major title in one season.
Day’s first major title lifts him from fifth to third and means the world’s top three are aged 22, 26 and 27 respectively.
Deposed number one McIlroy said it was “inevitable” that Jordan Spieth would become the world’s top-ranked player — and that Jason Day would one day be a major winner.
Praise has poured in for Day after the 27-year-old Australian held off the challenge of American star Spieth to win the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, the biggest title of his career.
And the Northern Irishman, who finished 17th on nine under as he relinquished his hold on the PGA Championship and top spot in the rankings, was not surprised in the least by those two outcomes.
He wrote on Twitter: “2 inevitable things happened today, JDayGolf winning a major and JordanSpieth getting to 1 in the world! Congrats guys!! Inspiring stuff!”
Day himself was in tears even before he rolled in his final putt on the 18th and he was understandably thrilled to finally get his hands on his first major after several near misses.
In the last four years, Day has twice finished runner-up at the US Open and once at the Masters, while being tied for fourth at this year’s Open Championship.
The Queenslander tweeted: “Ding dong the witch is dead. #PGAChampionship #winning.”
Like McIlroy, Tiger Woods, who has won the PGA Championship four times among his 14 major wins, has been similarly impressed by Spieth and Day — who is now third in the world.
He tweeted: “Game over, very happy for Jason. Great dude and well deserved. Hats off to Jordan, incredible season. Calling it early.”
Speaking to the media after the tournament, McIlroy admitted Spieth fully deserved to replace him as world number one.
“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 — it’s very deservedly so,” said McIlroy, who had not played since the US Open in June after rupturing an ankle ligament playing football with friends on July 4th.
“Winning two majors, winning a couple of other times this year, had a chance at the Open, had a chance today. I’d be the first one to congratulate him because I know the golf you have to play to get to that spot, and it has been impressive this year.”
Asked if regaining top spot would give him extra motivation, McIlroy added: “Not really. I’ve always said that winning golf tournaments takes care of all of that stuff. Right now I’m focused on just getting my game the way I think it has to be to win tournaments like this.”
Spieth himself added: “It feels really good. It’s an unbelievable feeling.
“I knew walking up the 16th Jason was going to win so I was focusing on finishing second and accomplishing a career goal. So much work has gone into this and what a year it has been.”
McIlroy, who said his ankle had responded well to the difficult terrain at Whistling Straits, will skip the first FedEx Cup play-off event and return to action in the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston from September 4-7th.
Latest leading positions and points average:
1 Jordan Spieth (USA) 12.47, 2 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 12.24, 3 Jason Day (Aus) 9.40, 4 Bubba Watson (USA) 8.24, 5 Justin Rose (Eng) 7.16, 6 Jim Furyk (USA) 6.89, 7 Dustin Johnson (USA) 6.79, 8 Rickie Fowler (USA) 6.75, 9 Henrik Stenson (Swe) 6.02, 10 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 5.47, 11 Zach Johnson (USA) 4.88, 12 Adam Scott (Aus) 4.88, 13 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 4.79, 14 Jimmy Walker (USA) 4.62, 15 Matt Kuchar (USA) 4.43, 16 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 4.26, 17 Brooks Koepka (USA) 4.22, 18 Patrick Reed (USA) 4.08, 19 JB Holmes (USA) 4.05, 20 Branden Grace (Rsa) 3.94
