It was pretty simple in the glory days of Tiger Woods.
We knew who was No. 1, the players knew who was No. 1.
No debate, no discussion, end of story.
That seems like a long time ago in the days before Rory and Spieth and Day and Stenson and Johnson.
As the major championship season comes to an end at Baltusrol, there is a great disturbance in The Force, stirring up memories of the old Star Wars episodes.
There is no undisputed champion, there is no one ruling with an iron fist or the world’s hottest putter.
There is no clear-cut, no-doubt-about-it No. 1.
Jason Day has done his best.
Dustin Johnson could have claimed the spot after Sunday, but tripped and fell down the stairs with a 77 in the first round of the PGA Championship.
Day keeps fanning a fire that seems to be dying at times.
Jordan Spieth turned 23 and has lost a lot of his 22-year-old magic. He has proven quite human in the first three majors, totally vulnerable if you go back to the 12th tee at Augusta last April. He’s gone from Superman to ordinary after that.
Rory McIlroy simply cannot make a putt anymore. That was no more evident than the first round at Baltusrol. He is a man with the ball-striking capability of a greek god but the flatstick of a floundering flat-lander.
Which brings us to the “older guy.” And that would be 40-year-old Henrik Stenson. Back-to-back majors propelled Spieth to the No. 1 ranking last year. Might a second straight major do the same for Stenson?
Maybe not right away but from the looks of him, Stenson just could be the best player in the world RIGHT NOW.
In sports today, this is a What Have You Done For Us Lately generation. In other sports, it’s about wins and losses but golf is cumulative. Careers last longer and the super talents eventually take their share and then some, as Woods did in his prime, running his major totals to 14. Now he’s wondering when he will simply play again.
That leaves us with the chaos.
In three majors, we have three new major champions.
Will there be a fourth on Sunday in New Jersey?
Another first-time major winner can turn up the chaos dial to high heat.
There’s a lot to sort out, but right now, there are too many weaknesses, too many inconsistencies among golf’s top players for anyone to put a strangle-hold on the No. 1 ranking.
Day has done his best and when you consider where he’s come from with his health problems, you take your hat off to the Aussie.
Unless he can defend his title by Sunday, a year will have passed with Day, Spieth or McIlroy winning a major.
Golf has seemingly moved on from Tiger Woods. His days as the world’s best player are most likely done.
In a way, he’s made it very hard on the rest.
Day, Johnson, Spieth, McIlroy, Stenson, maybe Bubba Watson on a week when he’s into it, maybe, there’s that world again — maybe.
Whoever wears the crown, whoever holds that top spot, it is not theirs.
In today’s chaos, that shaky order at the top, that No. 1 spot begins to resemble a short-term loan.
