Before this year’s string of tournaments began, fans of professional golf were talking about the arrival of three “young guns.” And it was excited talk—as golf talk goes. It had been some time since the game had the kind of rivalry at the top that these three promised. The prospect of Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Jordan Spieth fighting for the lead in the big tournaments known as “the majors” recalled the great days of Nicklaus and Palmer. Or Nicklaus, Miller, and Watson. Hogan and Snead. Even, recently, Tiger and Phil, though that one never quite measured up. Tiger was just too good.

But with these three—McIlroy, Day, and Spieth—the raw material for something very special seemed to be there. Spieth couldn’t hit it as far as the other two but he hit it far enough, and on the greens, he was deadly as a cobra. Of the three, he’d had the best year, winning two of those “majors” and threatening in the others, especially the Open, which is often called, mistakenly, “the British Open.” (There is a U.S. Open, but the tournament that is played—and being played this weekend—in the British Isles is, simply, “the Open.” Golf is strict about its rules, as we all know, and this is one of them.