As Tiger Woods recovers from another operation on his increasingly creaky body, the Tour Championships goes on without him at soggy East Lake.
No big deal. Tiger's era is over. It's time for everyone - fans, media and sponsors - to embrace the new vanguards of the game Rory McIlroy,Jordan Spieth and Jason Day.
Golf's in very capable hands, even more so when you throw Rickie Fowler into the mix.
"It's been fun to be a part of this whole group," Day said. "Golf is in such a good spot now with where we are with the youth of the game, how we're growing the game."
There have been only a handful of periods during golf's modern era (since the PGA Championship became a stroke-play event in 1958) when at least three players under the age of 28 have held major titles.
Many who cheered him on did not know or really care about the game itself. Being an African-American in a predominantly white sport only heightened Woods' influence and when he was in the field, the crowds ballooned and TV ratings skyrocketed.
McIlroy, Spieth and Day won't have that sort of impact, but golf should consider itself very fortunate.
Jason Day.
The game couldn't have hoped for much better when it came to filling the post-Tiger void, producing three players who cover all of golf's major power bases: Europe, the US and Australia.
McIlroy, from Northern Ireland, won the final two majors of 2014. Spieth, from Texas, took the first two this year. Day, from Australia, won the most recent. The only one to escape that trio's grasp during that span was the Open at St Andrews, where Spieth and Day both finished one shot out of a three-man playoff won by American Zach Johnson.
Only 22, Spieth has put together one of the greatest years in the history of the sport. His victories at the Masters and US Open - not to mention his close call at the Open and runner-up finish to Day in the PGA Championship - should be enough to give him the PGA Tour's Player of the Year award.
The 26-year-old McIlroy was sidetracked by an injury while playing football with his mates, forcing him to sit out St Andrews, but he's already got four majors and merely needs the Masters to wrap up his career Grand Slam.
Then there's Day, whose career was marked by several close calls in the majors until his dominating romp at Whistling Straits last month. The 27-year-old has won two more times since then in the FedEx Cup playoff, surging to No 1 in the world rankings ahead of McIlroy and Spieth, who went back and forth with the top spot over the previous month.
Get used to that sort of flip-flopping.
"We're fearless," said Spieth, whose 66 yesterday left him just three shots behind leader Henrik Stenson. "You obviously need a bit of luck, but luck comes from believing luck will come. Luck comes from a self-belief that you have, the ability to close the deal out."
Already, there are comparisons to another Big Three, maybe the greatest of them all: Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, who dominated in the early 1960s and wound up with a total of 34 major championships.
With much deeper fields and a broadening talent pool around the world, no trio is likely to approach those numbers.
"It's a nice conversation to be a part of," said McIlroy. "Jordan's sort of like the Jack, methodical and sort of does everything that way. ... I would be Gary, because I'm the smallest. And then I guess that would leave Jason as Arnie." AP
