It's not often you'll hear a 26-year-old start a sentence with ''back in my day'', but in golf it seems players are getting better at ever younger ages.
Jason Day probably felt a bit old on Saturday, despite carding a solid six under par 66 in the third round at the Australian Open. He talked about how tired he'd been on the first two days and how massage had helped loosen his rigid back. Meanwhile, there was a buzz about young amateurs, Ryan Ruffels, a 15-year-old who shot four under, Anthony Murdaca, 18, who blew away his veteran playing partner Robert Allenby with a 66 and West Australian Brady Watt, who began the day at two under.
It made Day ponder how much the game had changed in the very short time since he started out.
''They're training so hard these days,'' he said. ''Back in my day - that wasn't very long ago - the stuff these kids are doing now, I wasn't really doing.
''The teaching in Australia, the coaching here is phenomenal. And they're so much more exposed to the science of the game, the gym part, the mental part - there's so many different aspects that they train and work on. They're just getting better and better. They're hungry to play well.''
Day described Ruffels' 67 in challenging conditions on Friday as ''phenomenal''.
''I remember when I was 15, I wasn't ready to play in the Australian Open - let alone shoot five under yesterday and play good again today. It's very impressive to see a 15-year-old out there playing among the pros, among the best players in the world.
''It's not easy out there … To see amateurs and juniors go out there and play the way they've been playing … That's what we like to see, myself and Scotty [Adam Scott] and all the other guys out there. We don't want to see Australian golf slow down … we want to see the younger guys come through the ranks.
''It just goes to show where Australian golf is right now. It's moving in the right direction. We have a lot of good players.''
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