Jason Day is becoming the poor man’s Rory McIlroy

Since it's apparently been decided that Rory McIlroy is the new Tiger Woods, or some such silliness, that leaves a vacancy in the Sergio Garcia Memorial Heir Apparent suite. So who better to fill it than Jason Day?

The guy's got all the requisite credentials: young, talented (finished solo second at the U.S. Open, tied for second at the Masters), smoking hot wife who apparently likes to dress up as a caddie. That's the total package right there.

This past weekend, it's no surprise he went low at the U.S. Open -- Congressional was about as tough as butterscotch pudding -- but he nonetheless posted the best round of the day on Saturday (65) and was two strokes off the best of the day on Sunday (Kevin Chappell and Charl Schwartzel's 66). He's on a trend line (T2, 2) to finish in a playoff at the British Open and win the PGA Championship, and there's absolutely no way this won't happen.

"If you go around to each country, each country has their own rising star coming up," said Day, an Aussie. "This is the start of it, and obviously Rory is leading it, and there's a bunch of other great golfers out there. 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. I think it's great for golf."

There you have it. Jason Day, the Next Rory McIlroy. Called it.

[Yes, that image is from Augusta, not Congressional. Deal with it.]