This year has been a particularly exciting one on the US PGA Tour. The world’s premier circuit has certainly not disappointed in 2015. On the contrary, thanks to exceptional campaigns by two young players brimming with talent: Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, who ended the year as numbers one and two, respectively, in the world rankings, with a minimal margin between them.

This duel between two titans of the game has been spectacular, especially at the end of a season during which each player won five times, including two majors for Spieth (US Masters and US Open) and the US PGA Championship for Day.

The icing on the cake for Spieth – who won a record $22 million in prizemoney (including a bonus of $10 million in deferred payment for his FedEx Cup victory) – was provided by his US Tour colleagues, who elected him Player of the Year.

Day, on the other hand, finished second in the voting, beating Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler. An interesting fact: Day is the first player to have won fives times in a season and not be named Player of the Year.

Spieth, 22, became the second youngest player to secure this honour, after Tiger Woods in 1997 when he was still 21.

Thanks to his win in the final tournament of the season, the Tour Championship, Spieth also de-throned Day from the top of the world rankings.

The Texan star’s season was spectacular. In 25 tournaments played, he finished among the top-10 in 15, including his five wins, and four runner-up and one third places. He won a sixth, the Hero World Challenge, at the start of the season, but it didn’t count as it wasn’t an official event on the PGA Tour.

Day, meanwhile, also had an extraordinary season. In 20 tournaments he registered 11 top-10 finishes including his five victories and a third place. His season finale was hair-raising, with four wins in the last seven tournaments, including a major.

The third wheel at the top of the rankings is McIlroy, who won twice on the 2015 US Tour. Nevertheless, due to a ligament injury to his left ankle suffered in July that kept him away from competition for several weeks, he fell back and will have to sharpen his game if he is to reduce the margin of more than one point that separates him from Spieth and Day – potentially a significant chasm if the two continue in the same vein. At the moment, unfortunately for the Northern Irishman, this game of thrones is restricted to two players.