Bright Day coming to East Lake

Day entered Sunday’s final round of the PGA Tour playoff semifinals here at Conway Farms with a six-stroke lead, and would have required far more than his final-round 69 to put the outcome in doubt. Anything short of at least one collapsed lung, and Day was good. He nursed that six-shot lead all the way to the end.

They are hoping for something a little more tingly at East Lake when the 30 FedEx Cup survivors convene in Atlanta this week for the Tour Championship. That may depend entirely upon Day’s mood.

If he opens up 61-63 as he did in the first two rounds of the BMW Championship, there’s nothing much for the rest of them to do but line up behind him and scavenge for scraps.

On the power of that opening statement, Day took over the top of the world golf rankings Sunday, an address shared at different times this year by Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. The average age of that No. 1 Club is 25. Golf’s future is theirs, while Tiger Woods is being fitted for his various braces and trusses.

Day, after a layover at his Ohio home, will be bound for Atlanta Tuesday night presumably by jet airliner. Although he may choose to float in.

“I just always had a vision of me standing on top of the earth when I was a kid,” Day said Sunday. “And knowing that right now there’s no one on this planet who’s better than me, that’s pretty cool. That out of all the golfers in the world playing right now, that I’m the best. It’s such a good feeling.”

He, McIlroy and Spieth may be passing around the top spot like a chain letter for years to come. But the flavor of this month is definitely Vegemite. Dating back to his PGA Championship victory, the Aussie Day has won three of his last four tournaments (four of six dating back to the Canadian Open). He has tunneled further below par — 20 under — than any other major winner ever. He began this BMW Championship flirting with the holy grail of 59. When he played his weekend rounds in “only” 4 under, that was considered almost slacking off.

On Sunday, he rested. Worked on his trouble game a little — maybe he got bored playing from fairway to green all the time, and felt the need to explore the higher grass and the sandy foxholes that the commoners frequent.

The real drama of Sunday rested in the mysterious formula by which the FedEx Cup participation is decided. All that was really left to be decided was the final tally and a working list of those who would make the Tour Championship in Atlanta and those who would take a vacation from golf, if you can imagine.

Who’s in:

Former Georgia Bulldog Harris English made an 18-foot birdie putt on his final hole Sunday and secured the 30th and final spot at East Lake. He was due, after riding the outside of the bubble the last two seasons (finishing an agonizing 32nd last year and 31st in 2013).

“It’s awesome. It’s kind of a goal starting the year each year to make it to the Tour Championship. You get in all the majors and it makes your schedule easier,” English said.

One-tenth of the East Lake field is Bulldog oriented — Bubba Watson, Kevin Kisner and English. Lined up against them is but one Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket, Matt Kuchar.

Who’s out:

Phil Mickelson, for the second straight year.

Hunter Mahan, who had been the only player to advance to the every Tour Championship since the FedEx Cup playoff format began in 2007. The streak died Sunday, after he finished 49th in the point standings.

Billy Horschel. The defending FedEx Cup champion did the familiar thing and fell short of earning a trip back to Atlanta. Brant Snedeker is the only defending champion to even make it back to the Tour Championship (2012-13) in the playoff format era.

And, mentally, Day may be out of it, but only for a few hours. It has been an emotional week, sleep deprived and tenser than the leaderboard would indicate, he said. But he says there is more gilding to apply to this golden season.

“Monday comes around, I’ll start thinking about the Tour Championship,” he said. “And I’ll start thinking about winning that tournament and then on top of it winning the FedEx Cup to really put your name down in history.”