Golf’s Big Three dominate Masters discussion

Setting the stage for this week’s Masters has been simplified greatly by current events. For in golf these days, it is all about the wheat, and very little of the chaff.

“I’m looking forward to Rory, Jordan and Jason, quite honestly,” Curtis Strange, the once-upon-a-time U.S. Open victor who’ll lend expertise to ESPN’s share of the Masters coverage.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun to see if Rory can complete the (career) Grand Slam, can Jordan repeat, can Jason continue this (winning) stretch?” Strange said.

Last names have become almost superfluous when discussing what has become the latest trio of young rivals lumped together beneath the label “Big Three.” For those who may not include the Official World Golf Rankings as part of their weekly reading list, the full names are: Defending Masters champion Jordan Spieth; world’s current No. 1 player Jason Day and four-time major winner Rory McIlroy.

Golf has an affinity for such packaging — don’t balls come three to a sleeve? Go back to the firm of Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan, all born providentially on the same year (1912). Proceed to the group that made golf cool and worldly in the 1960s and ‘70s: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.

And now these Musketeers, swashbuckling their way onto a high-def big screen near you, a very healthy arrangement for the game now that Tiger Woods has turned 40 and seems closer to hitting the ceremonial Masters tee shot Thursday morning than to actually playing 18 holes.

Spieth, McIlroy and Day have honestly earned the right to be set aside and above the rest of the white-belted mob. Oh, yeah, they are ridiculously talented and stupidly young — their three ages combined equals Jack Nicklaus’ 76 years on this planet.

Those three have won five of the past eight major tournaments as well as homesteading the top three spots in the world rankings. It is their lot, it appears, to pass around the lofty status of No. 1 between themselves, sharing it like ketchup at an all-night diner.

Some of them are likely to protest on grounds of forced modesty.

“It’s a little different because for me I’m not as popular as those guys and I understand that. I’m kind of a boring person. … I’m just the nerd in the back, which is fine.” So has said Day, the guy who hits a golf ball so far that it should require postage and who has won his past two starts and six of his past 13, including the 2015 PGA Championship.

Another voice heard from: “I don’t think anyone’s buying into the Big Three, because I’ve spent a good amount of time on this stage saying that I don’t think that’s a necessary comparison when you look at the Big Three from the past.

“We’d all like to have a very positive impact on the game ultimately, but the only way to do that is to stay focused on our own goals and accomplish what we can on the course and be respectful and good people off the course to the best of our abilities.” So has said Spieth, who probably should stick to writing small numbers on his scorecard and leave the marketing to other, less sincere experts.

Besides he has some work to do. Since going 30-under in Hawaii in January, Spieth finished has not had a top-10 finish in his past five events including Sunday at Houston.

There is a commotion at the gate that separates these three from the rest. There is another under-30 player who is making his case for inclusion, and certainly golf could handle a Big Foursome.

But, for Rickie Fowler, there is a detail to take care of first.

Sure, since his haircut he can be taken so much more seriously. He won twice in 2015 (one of those the Players Championship). And he is ranked fifth in the world now. Still, he hasn’t won one of the biggies. “A major is always going to be a major,” Fowler said. “Those are iconic weeks through the year, and there’s a lot of credibility to winning (one) for a reason.”

The gang sounds like it would be happy to have him, so long as Fowler passes that one very difficult rite of initiation.