BETHESDA, Md. — Amid all the hullabaloo over Rory McIlroy being golf’s next young superstar, Jason Day shouldn’t be overlooked.
The 23-year-old from Queensland, Australia, shot a 3-under par 68 yesterday to finish in second place at the 111th U.S. Open.
Finishing a distant eight strokes behind McIlroy, Day didn’t receive much attention. But it was a more than respectable finish considering he was playing in his first U.S. Open.
“I’m very excited that I finished second,” said Day, who also finished tied for second at the Masters. “I’m not going to go home and cry because I got whooped. But Rory, you can’t beat a guy that’s gone out and played as well as he has this week. He didn’t miss a beat, played phenomenal golf. I played really, really solid golf over the weekend, which I really wanted to do.”
Normally 8-under would have gotten Day into at least a playoff in every previous U.S. Open except for the Tiger Woods romp at Pebble Beach in 2000. But thanks to the 22-year-old McIlroy, it was only good for second place.
“I was thinking that 4-under was going to win it,” Day said, “but 17-under wound up winning. He lapped the field and, for such a young age, how mature he is. Golf right now is in a really, really good spot.”
Day never really had a chance to catch McIlroy, but took second with a bogey-free round. He posted birdies at the par-5 6th hole, the par-3 10th and the par-5 16th. After a 10th-place finish at the PGA Championship last year, Day is the only player to finish in the top 10 of the last three majors.
“Jason has played fantastic in the last three majors,” said McIlroy. “I’m sure he’ll get himself in position to win major championships.”
Day, McIlroy and 26-year-old Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa are part of the 20-something group of players who are pumping new blood into golf.
“This is the start of it and obviously Rory is leading it,” Day said. “There’s a bunch of other great golfers out there that obviously we need to work a little harder to get to the level of Rory. We really are going to start a new generation and it’s really fun.”
