NAPA, Calif. – Brendan Steele had an ideal start to the new PGA Tour season at the Frys.com Open with a round that featured nine birdies, no stress and a simple explanation.

“As weird as it is to say, it was kind of a basic 63,” he said.

It gave him a one-shot lead over Jhonattan Vegas among early starters in ideal scoring conditions at Silverado, which has such subtle movement in the greens that the course doesn’t always yield low scores even when players have a short iron into the putting surface.

Of the early starters, 21 players were at 68 or better.

That included Rory McIlroy, who is between two seasons. The world’s No. 3 player had numerous birdie chances and didn’t convert nearly as many as he would have liked. What pleased McIlroy was the quality of his game from tee-to-green, far crisper than it was at the Tour Championship three weeks ago.

“Definitely a step in the right direction today,” McIlroy said.

Vegas, who won as a rookie in 2011 at the Humana Challenge, lost his card this year and failed to get it back at the Web.com Tour Finals two weeks ago. He is relying on his limited status as a past champion and sponsor exemptions, so it was important to make the most out of his exemption this week.

Harold Varner III, who joins Tiger Woods as the only players of black heritage on the PGA Tour this year, made a strong rookie debut with a 65. The group at 66 included Justin Thomas, with Justin Rose among those at 67.

Steele posted a target early with a 29 on the back nine, including five straight birdies before making the turn. At one point, he rolled in putts of 25 feet, 20 feet and 18. That prompted this observation from Steve Wheatcroft.

“Just hang in there,” he said Wheatcroft told him. “It’s a long season. You’ll make one eventually.”

Sang-moon Bae, unable to defend because of his mandatory military service in South Korea, won last year at Silverado at 15-under par. No one had better than 65 the entire tournament last year, which made Steele’s round stand out even more.

Steele wasn’t surprised.

This is the third straight year of a wraparound season that starts in October with a two-week break after the old season ended. Steele had some good results toward the end of last season, took a short break, started practicing and liked how his game felt.

“In the pro-am yesterday I was like, ‘We need to get this tournament going.’ I hate it when I’m home and I feel really good,” he said. “It’s hard to keep it. I always say that your game is either coming or going, right? So when it’s coming, you want to be in the right place.”

McIlroy is coming and going as it relates to seasons.

While this is the season opener on the PGA Tour, he leaves after this week for three tournaments in Asia to finish off his European Tour schedule with hopes of winning another Race to Dubai title. This is only his fifth tournament dating to the PGA Championship, when he returned from a two-month hiatus to heal his injured ankle.

His game looked good, but he struggled to match the speed with the line for a number of birdie chances from about 12 feet or in.

“Gave myself a lot of chances,” McIlroy said. “I converted a few, but I’ll need to hole a few more. I feel like this is a golf course that you can give yourself a lot of chances. If I can keep hitting the ball the way I am and just hole a few more, I’ll be OK.”

Varner made a flashy finish to get near the top of the leaderboard. He holed an 18-foot eagle putt on No. 16, stuffed a sand wedge into 2 feet for birdie on the 17th and had to settle for a birdie on the par-5 18th when he narrowly missed another eagle chance.

Varner earned his card through the Web.com Tour, and he already noticed one big difference. While a tournament in wine country doesn’t attract a massive crowd, it was still far more than he was used to seeing.

“It’s fun until you hit one too far left or right,” Varner said. “I get a little nervous because there are people over there. Usually there is no one over there and I just go find it. But there are so many people, you might hit them. So it’s good. Different experience. I guess you’ve just got to get used to it.”

Weyburn, Sask., native Graham DeLaet leads the Canadians in the field following a 5-under 67 performance to finish T7. Nick Taylor and David Hearn shot 71 while Adam Hadwin opened at even-par. Cory Renfrew, who claimed medalist honours at the Monday Qualifier, posted a 1-over 73.

VILAMOURA, Portugal – Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium shot a seven-under-par 64 to claim a share of the lead after the first round of the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura on Thursday.

The 32-year-old former Ryder Cup player shares the lead with Andy Sullivan of England, who matched Colsaerts’ score after hitting eight birdies and one bogey.

Just behind the lead pair are Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, David Drysdale of Scotland, Eduardo de la Riva of Spain and Thomas Aiken of South Africa, all on six under par 65.

Colsaerts hit two eagles and four birdies, and could have improved on his clubhouse score had he not dropped one shot.

Petro-Canada has named Team Canada’s Étienne Papineau and Robert Ratcliffe among the 2015 recipients of the Fuelling Athletes and Coaches (FACE) program. The pair is one of 50 sets of athletes and coaches to receive funding in pursuit of continued excellence in their sports.

The 2015 FACE recipients from across Canada represent both summer and winter sports, with each athlete and coach pairing receiving $10,000. Since 1988, Petro-Canada has contributed almost $9.4 million to over 2,700 athlete-coach pairings.

“We are extremely grateful to receive this generous offering from the Fuelling Athletes and Coaches program,” said Ratcliffe, Team Canada’s Lead Development Squad Coach. “This program credits the importance of athlete-coach relationships while understanding the costs associated with advanced training. This will go a long way for myself and Étienne as we continue to excel and improve.”

Papineau of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., is coming off his second season representing Canada. The 19-year-old claimed victories at the Alexander of Tunis, the Québec Men’s Amateur Championship and the Graham Cooke Junior Invitational.

Ratcliffe, a native of Comox, B.C., is entering his tenth season at the helm of the Development Squad. He is a class “A” member with the PGA of Canada.

Developed by Petro-Canada, the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) and Canadian Paralympic Committee (CPC), and facilitated by their National Sport partners, the FACE program provides developing, pre-carded Canadian athlete and coach pairings with funding to help fuel their dreams. Coaches are selected along with the athletes they directly coach as they often incur additional costs on the road to developing the Canadian Olympic and Paralympic stars of tomorrow.

Click here for the full list of 2015 FACE recipients.

NAPA, Calif. – The Frys.com Open is everything Rory McIlroy thought it would be.

And the tournament hasn’t even started.

He knew nothing about Silverado Resort, which is hosting the PGA Tour season opener for the second year and is expected to stay here even longer, except that it was located in the middle California’s most famous wine country.

“Expected vineyards, wine, good food,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Got all those boxes ticked last night.”

McIlroy, who for now is No. 3 in the world ranking, represents the biggest star power at this event since Tiger Woods began what amounted to a rehab assignment in 2011, and his week ended with a fan throwing a hot dog on the green he was playing.

McIlroy was part of the “Turkey Eight” that signed off on a one-sided deal three years ago – eight PGA Tour players in an exhibition in Turkey agreed they would play the Frys.com Open at least once over the next three years. Woods was supposed to be at Silverado this year, too, until he had his second back surgery. Also in the field from Turkey are Charl Schwartzel, Justin Rose and Webb Simpson.

Hunter Mahan also is playing. He was in Turkey, but he fulfilled his commitment last year, liked it so much that he came back. It’s all about location.

Here’s how the first tournament of the new season is shaping up:

SEASONS BLUR: When the new seasons gets started Thursday morning, it will have been 18 days since the last season ended with Jordan Spieth becoming the first $22 million man in golf ($10 million of that from winning the FedEx Cup).

For all the angst over golf not having an offseason, only the starting line has changed.

The PGA Tour has 47 events that occupy 43 weeks of the year. Ten years ago, it had 48 events that occupied 44 weeks on the calendar.

And one thing hasn’t changed. The offseason is as long as a player wants it to be. Chris Kirk played three FedEx Cup playoff events, had two weeks off, went to South Korea for the Presidents Cup and is teeing it up at Silverado. Phil Mickelson played three FedEx Cup playoff events, had two weeks off, went to South Korea, and golf won’t see him again until January in California.

RORY’S SCHEDULE: See if you can follow along.

McIlroy feels as though his “new season” started in August when he returned from two months of healing his injured ankle. He is playing the Frys.com Open, which is the first event of the new PGA Tour season. And then he heads to Asia for three tournaments to end the season on the European Tour.

And then he gets two months off.

“I feel like I’m in the middle of a nice little run to the end of the year,” McIlroy said. “I guess for a lot of guys, even the guys that played a full PGA Tour schedule last season and then played the Presidents Cup and they’re coming here, it’s a lot of golf. But as I said, I haven’t played as much as those guys, so I’m happy to be playing and happy to play quite a bit until the end of the year.”

STRONG FIELD: For a time of the year when the “stars” were going to be taking time off, the Frys.com Open has six of the top 30 in the world. McIlroy and Rose are at Silverado as a part of the Turkey agreement. But that doesn’t account for Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Robert Streb and Brandt Snedeker.

This is the third straight year that the Frys.com Open has started the PGA Tour’s new wraparound season. The previous two winners, Jimmy Walker and Sang-moon Bae, both reached the Tour Championship.

AT STAKE: The winner of the Frys.com Open gets a spot in the Masters and the same number of FedEx Cup points as winning the Memorial or Arnold Palmer Invitational.

But he won’t be getting any Ryder Cup points.

The illustrious Ryder Cup Task Force decided to count PGA Tour events toward the U.S. standings at the start of 2016 (Kapalua) instead of the start of the season.

BIG DAY: McIlroy already has had a good time in Napa based on the wine and the food (and yes, he likes the golf course).

So has Justin Thomas. The second-year player played the pro-am with a couple real Warriors – Steph Curry and Andre Iguodala.

CHAMPION KIRK: A tradition that never gets old on the PGA Tour is celebrating the previous week’s winner.

Chris Kirk knows the feeling. Kirk wound up making the most significant putt in the Presidents Cup, a 15-footer down the hill on the 18th hole for a 1-up victory over Anirban Lahiri. Kirk was stopped four times on his way from the range as players congratulated him on a great week.

Kirk said his biggest weakness all week in South Korea was putting. He discovered later he was set up too close to the ball. But he made the one that mattered. Asked if he was getting as many congratulations for the Presidents Cup as he was for winning the Colonial, Kirk smiled and said, “More.”

INCHEON, South Korea – South Korea’s Sung Hyun Park shot a course-record 10-under 62 on Thursday to take a four-stroke lead in the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship.

The 22-year-old Park had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of the round and birdied three of the last four holes on Sky 72’s Ocean Course. She played alongside Michelle Wie and Lexi Thompson, regularly driving 10 to 15 yards past the long-hitting U.S. stars.

Park broke the course record of 63 set by Suzann Pettersen in the first round of her 2012 victory. Ranked 54th in the world, Park won the Korea LPGA’s Se Ri Pak Invitational two weeks ago for her third victory of the season. She won the Korea Women’s Open in June.

“It was awesome to watch, that’s for sure,” Thompson said. “She shot 10 under, and I swear it seemed like she birdied every hole. It was amazing to watch. I’ve never seen her play before and she’s a great player. Amazing putter and great ball-striker and she hits it long.”

Thompson had a 68, and Wie shot 71.

U.S. Solheim Cup hero Gerina Piller and England’s Charley Hull were tied for second at 66.

Piller had six birdies in a bogey-free round that started on No. 10.

“I just made some putts,” Piller said. “The greens are rolling pretty quick and they are pretty pure. I missed the green on the first hole and I had about a 10-footer (for par), so I think that just kind of kick-started the whole day.”

Hull birdied five of the first seven holes in a bogey-free round.

“Just patience at the moment,” Hull said.

China’s Shanshan Feng was five strokes back at 66 along with South Koreans Chella Choi, Hyo Joo Kim, Eun-Hee Ji and Han Sol Ji. Kim and Choi won their first LPGA Tour titles this season. Kim took the Founders Cup in Phoenix, and Choi the Marathon Classic in Ohio.

“This tournament is my favorite tournament the whole year, because my hometown and my whole family came out here,” Choi said. “I’m so excited and I’m really proud of my country.”

Top-ranked Inbee Park had a 69. The South Korean star won two of the five majors this year and is tied with second-ranked Lydia Ko for the tour victory lead with four.

Ko also shot 69. She tied for second last week in the LPGA Malaysia after winning her previous two starts in Canada and France, where the 18-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander became the youngest major champion.

American Jessica Korda, the Malaysia winner, opened with a 71. U.S. Solheim Cup captain Juli Inskter, the oldest player in the field at 55, also had a 71.

TRINITY, Tex. – The United States carded a final-round 131 on Wednesday to edge out Mexico by one stroke and win the Spirit International title at the Whispering Pines Golf Club.

Collectively, the Americans posted a combined 394 (-38) through 54 holes while the Mexicans came in just shy at 395 (-37).

On the men’s side, the Americans were led by Philip Barbaree of Shreveport, La., who tallied 18 birdies to enter a playoff and go on to win the gold medal and an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s Crowne Plaza Invitational. His teammate, Will Zalatoris of Plano, Tex., was no slouch either. The sophomore at Wake Forest posted nine birdies and two eagles to boost the Americans to a first place finish in the men’s division.

On the women’s side, the American duo of Mariel Galdiano and Hannah O’Sullivan combined to post a 202 though three rounds—good for a tie for seventh. The Mexicans took home the women’s division, shooting 21-under for a four-stroke victory. They were led by Maria Fassi, who posted 17 birdies and one eagle to earn the gold medal and an exemption into the LPGA Tour’s Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout.

The Canadian foursome of Hugo Bernard (Mont-St-Hilaire, Que.), Eric Banks (Truro, N.S.), Maddie Szeryk (dual-citizen) and Grace St-Germain (Ottawa) turned their fortunes around on Wednesday, carding a team-best 13-under to total 411 (-21) and climb the leaderboard to tie for thirteenth.

Individually, Maddie Szeryk notched 10 birdies, St-Germain two, Eric Banks nine (plus an eagle) and Bernard with nine (also with an eagle).

Click here for full scoring.

Talk about a dream come true.

First-year Team Canada member Austin Connelly was in his hotel room with his teammates in May, the night before the annual media day in Calgary, when he got a life-changing phone call. But he had a feeling it was going to happen.

“I was actually dreaming about it. I was dreaming about getting that call,” Connelly explains.

The call in question? It was from Derek Ingram, Team Canada’s head coach, who said Connelly needed to call Jon Drago (the AT&T Byron Nelson tournament director) right away.

Connelly had been given an exemption into the tournament.

For Connelly, it was as if his life had come full circle. The Byron Nelson was the tournament he had attended his whole life – his mother, Bridget, says Connelly was in diapers when he first went – and now, he was going to make his PGA TOUR debut in his hometown.

Connelly ended up making the Friday cut, but didn’t finish Sunday after missing the third-round cut. It was an experience he says he is going to relish for the rest of his life, even though he barely made it there in the first place.

“I hopped on the first plane home (from Calgary) and the flight was crazy,” he explains. “There were tornadoes on the ground in the area of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex where I live. We were landing and our plane was twisting and dropping. People were screaming. It was the scariest flight I’d ever been on.”

Not only was there that harrowing experience, but Connelly had injured his wrist so badly the week before, he was actually not supposed to play golf.

“I committed immediately, and I would do whatever it took to play,” he recalls.

The drama continued Friday. He rolled his left ankle going down the stairs in his hotel gym and could barely swing, but he still finished his round.

So goes the life of Austin Connelly. A fighter. Standing no more than 5-foot-5 and 125 pounds, he thinks he can, like the little engine that could.

After the Byron Nelson, the 18-year-old also received an exemption into the Nova Scotia Open on the Web.com Tour and the RBC Canadian Open in July. In between those events, he represented Canada at the Pan American Games, and, both the Canadian Amateur and U.S. Amateur championships.

He finished 5th at the Pan Am Games, just four shots back of a medal. Later in the summer, he didn’t make it past the first round of the U.S. Amateur, but decided the time was right, and he was going to turn professional.

Although he had committed to the University of Arkansas for the fall, he admits he had been thinking about turning professional since the Byron Nelson in May.

“It’s been a goal of mine to get to No.1 in the world. I know it will be a long process but I’m ready to put forth all the effort,” Connelly explains. “I felt the time was right to be a full-time golfer.”

When Connelly says he thinks is game is already good enough to compete on the PGA TOUR, he isn’t boasting.

He gained the attention of the nation Friday at the RBC Canadian Open, having shot a 7-under-par 65 to comfortably make the cut. He struggled Saturday and failed to make the secondary cut, but he and fellow Golf Canada teammate Blair Hamilton earned Low Amateur honours.

And he did it all with his back-up putter, after his gamer broke on a plane. “I actually called Bettinardi and I said, ‘hey, I’m playing a couple of PGA TOUR events this year and I can’t play a putter with Matt Kuchar’s signature on it. I can’t do it,’” he explains, laughing. “They sent me a Tour-style one, but that one broke.”

Making the PGA TOUR full-time is something Connelly has been working towards since he could barely walk.

“I used to hit balls around the house one-handed with a plastic club,” he states. “When I was 18 months old I would go out and hit shots with a cut-down set. When I was two, I finally put two hands on the club and, well, here we are.”

Although Connelly says he played other sports growing up, like tennis and basketball, by the time he was 13, he knew what he wanted to do. Inspired by Tiger Woods, Connelly got more serious about golf. Now, he cites players such as Zach Johnson (“he hits it about my distance”) and Jim Furyk as guys he feels he compares well with.

And then there’s that friendship Connelly has with Jordan Spieth.

Connelly and Spieth have the same coach and fitness trainer so the dual-citizen sees Spieth in the gym more than anywhere else. They met when Spieth was finishing at the University of Texas and they chat at the gym multiple times per week and try to squeeze in a round where possible.

“As good as he is, he’s just 21 and there’s so much to learn,” Connelly explains. “But obviously I learn a lot from him. I pick his brain a lot about certain things. He’s just the golden boy for golf, I don’t know how else to put it.”

Being friends with a two-time major champion results in some cool moments, too.

“I got to see the Green Jacket, which was pretty neat,” Connelly says. “I was walking into the gym and (Jordan) is just standing there holding it. Then he put it on. It was pretty cool.”

There’s likely a lot to come before Connelly is competing for a major himself, but it’s another thing he can dream about.

And if there are any precedents set about Connelly and his dreams, well, it will likely come true.

OTTAWA ― NGCOA Canada, in partnership with Integram Marketing Services Inc., is pleased to announce the launch of golfsocial. Many golf course owners struggle to build their own online community. Developing meaningful content that will engage their customers and potential customers is a challenge. Most golf course owners and operators do not have time to develop highly timely, relevant, and entertaining content for their own social media marketing campaigns. golfsocial is designed to enhance a golf course operations social media marketing.

“A strong social media presence can mean creating a bigger online community and a more loyal and engaged customer base. The frequency and quality of these posts is essential for our member facilities to stay connected to their customers when they are away from the course. Executing an effective social media marketing program will help our members grow their business. NGCOA Canada members know that social media is important, but, like many small businesses, do not have the resources to source dynamic content on a daily basis. golfsocial solves the resource problem,” says, Jeff Calderwood, CEO, NGCOA Canada.

The proprietary technology allows NGCOA Canada’s partner, Integram Marketing to aggregate meaningful golf content from a wide range of sources that it is timely, relevant, and highly dynamic, and push that content out through each NGCOA Canada member’s individual Facebook page. Each member’s business Facebook page will become the source for consumers to find dynamic golf content. The result will be greater customer engagement, resulting in greater customer loyalty, and greater passion for our great game.

Golf Canada is pleased to support this exciting new initiative by becoming a content partner for golfsocial. Golf Canada will provide golfsocial with highly relevant and dynamic golf content to assist members of the NGCOA Canada, and Golf Canada partner clubs to build bigger and more loyal online communities for each facility. This initiative is FREE for NGCOA Canada member facilities, and Golf Canada member facilities.

To register your course for golfsocial, contact Integram Marketing Services Inc:

Allison Kelly: 519-221-3635 | Akelly@integram.net

Don Mackay: 705-644-2017 | dmackay@muskokahighlands.com

TRINITY, Tex. – Mexico and the United States separated from the pack for a share of the lead at 25-under par following Tuesday’s second round of four-ball at the Spirit International at Whispering Pines Golf Club.

Both the Mexicans and Americans broke 130 on Tuesday to lead the way and set the tone for Wednesday’s final round. France trails the leaders by four strokes at 21-under par to sit alone in third place.

Collectively, the Canadian foursome of Hugo Bernard (Mont-St-Hilaire, Que.), Eric Banks (Truro, N.S.), Maddie Szeryk (dual-citizen) and Grace St-Germain (Ottawa) continued to struggle on Tuesday, carding a 5-under 139 but falling further behind the pace in the process, trailing the leaders by 17 strokes.

Together, Banks and Bernard posted a 4-under 68 to sit T16 amongst the men. On the women’s side, Szeryk and St-Germain carded a 1-under 70, leaving them in a tie for fifteenth.

The Spirit International Amateur Golf Championship is a 54-hole four-ball stroke-play competition with three concurrent competition categories: International Team, Men’s Team and Women’s Team. Unofficial individual competitions are also conducted through a format that only counts birdies and eagles towards final scores. PGA TOUR and LPGA TOUR exemptions will be awarded to the men’s and women’s gold medalists. The men will compete for a spot in the Crowne Plaza Invitational, while the women will compete for a spot to play in the Volunteers of America North Texas Shootout.

The event features world-class amateurs from over 20 countries across six continents. Conducted at the Whispering Pines Golf Club since its inception in 2001, the Spirit is a biennial event alternating years with the World Amateur Team Championship. The Spirit is hosted by the World Health & Golf Association, a charitable organization dedicated to promoting amateur golf for the benefit of health related reasons.

Click here for live scoring.

With another PGA season in the books, perhaps one of the most intriguing storylines which emerged this year is the breakthrough success of Aussie golfer Jason Day.

During the first half, all the buzz was about American Jordan Spieth; but as the season wrapped up, the golfing world took notice of Day’s brilliance.

After capturing the Farmer’s Insurance Open title in early February, the 27-year-old from Queensland, Australia had his challenges returning to the winner’s circle in the months that followed.

While Day was experiencing a dry spell, Spieth claimed the Valspar Championship in mid-March, the Masters Championship in April, the U.S. Open in June, and the John Deere Classic in early July.

Despite his best efforts to join the former University of Texas Longhorn in the winner’s circle, Day came up empty – until a trip to Oakville for the RBC Canadian Open.

Entering the final round at Glen Abbey, Day found himself in a tie with two-time Masters champion, Bubba Watson, for second place – both stood two shots behind home grown hero, David Hearn, of Brantford, Ontario.

By the time he reached the 18th hole, Day had worked his way into a three-way tie with Hearn and Watson. And it was on the 18th that the Aussie completed his comeback by draining a tough birdie putt to put himself one shot up, which would hold as the margin of victory.

The 6-foot, 195 pound golfer said afterwards that the victory was even sweeter given his close call at St. Andrews – site of the British Open – in which he narrowly missed out on being part of a four-way playoff for the championship.

“For it to be the third oldest tournament, and to come off what happened last week and be able to get the putt to the hole this time and come out as a winner, it just feels fantastic,” he said. “That’s what we try to play so hard for. I’m really glad to be the Canadian Open champion.”

Day also pointed out that being able to pull through in the clutch had huge significance for the mental side of his game.

“Confidence-wise, my confidence is over the moon right now,” he added after his big victory on Canadian soil.

Judging by Day’s results for the remainder of the season, his win at the RBC Canadian Open was the spark that he needed to break open the flood gates to success.

Following his triumph, Day would go on to capture the PGA Championship, the Barclays title, and the BMW Championship.  As a result of his victory at the BMW Championship on September 20th, the 27-year-old fulfilled a childhood dream by becoming the world No. 1.

For Day, who was introduced to the game during his early childhood by his father, the road to the top has been anything but easy. After the death of his dad at the age of 12, Day struggled to cope with the loss.

“That’s when I started getting into trouble; started drinking a little bit; started getting into fights,” Day revealed in a recent RBC mini-documentary about his journey.

His mother, Dening Day, refused to see her son waste his talents; and decided to take out a second mortgage on the family house so that he could attend the prestigious Kooralbyn International School to hone his skills on the golf course.

It was at Kooralbyn where Day met golfing coach Colin Swatton, who would take over as the father figure in his life and steer him back on the right path.

“He’s a life changer…..The reason why I’m here is because of that guy,” Day said about Swatton, who was the best man at his wedding and today acts as the 27-year-old golfer’s caddie and coach.

Despite the many impressive accomplishments this season, perhaps the most notable victory for Day and Swatton came at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. It was at the PGA’s final major of the season where the talented young golfer would display his mental toughness to win his first career major.

While there were many – including his rivals – who expected or hoped Day would underperform or fold given the pressure, the Aussie proved otherwise.

“Typically in a major you’re looking for somebody in Jason’s position to miss a couple of shots and just feel the nerves of his own. And he went about it like a seasoned veteran; it was almost like it was his fifth or sixth major. I wouldn’t say I was surprised, but I was amazed that he kept pulling driver and kept hitting it in the tight zones,” said Spieth in his press conference after his final round at Whistling Straits.

Day finished at 20 under par, three shots clear of Spieth, to claim the PGA Championship; and proved to the entire golfing world that he had the maturity, poise and mental toughness to win the big one.

While Day experienced a slight let down at the year-end TOUR Championship, and in the process relinquished his hold on the world No. 1 ranking back to Spieth, his brilliance over the second half of the season has many excited about a budding rivalry.

With five tournament victories this season to his credit, Day, who finished in a tie for 10th at the year-end event, says he’s happy with his results – but far from content.

The talent Aussie golfer, who grew up idolizing Tiger Woods during the time when the 14-time major champion dominated the PGA TOUR, is very much eager to achieve his own version of greatness.

In fact, Day’s commitment to excellence dates back to his days at Kooralbyn, when he would wake up every morning before the other students in order to get in extra practice on his golf swing.

But perhaps, the 27-year-old, who is now in his prime, described his ambitions for greatness best after his victory at Glen Abbey in July.

“I just want to be the best I can be while I’m on this Earth and while I have the opportunity to play golf,” Day said simply about his dedication to reach his full potential.

With Day eager to regain the distinction as world No. 1 and Spieth eager to continue his winning ways, it appears that the battle lines have been drawn between the PGA’s top two golfers.

Factor in a healthy Rory McIlroy, and a highly motivated Bubba Watson, and the 2016 PGA story line promises to be one of the most exciting in all of sports.