Justin Thomas threatens briefly to emerge from the shadows

Perhaps it’s stretching the storyline a bit to focus on the proceedings that happened at about the same time yesterday morning on different parts of the Whistling Straits golf course. But literary license shall be exercised given the intriguing relationship between Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.

Battling just to manage themselves in sweltering heat, let alone while taking on the challenge of the 97th PGA Championship at a beguiling golf course, there were Spieth and Thomas jockeying for leaderboard position. But at about the same time Spieth was making birdie at the par-4 first, his 10th, to go to 4-under, Thomas was chopping up the par-5 fifth in double-bogey fashion to drop to 3-under.

Call it a microcosm of the current PGA Tour landscape, if you will, because while Spieth and Thomas have travelled parallel routes — junior golf stars, polished collegians, highly-touted pro talents — it is “the kid” who has taken off and left “the older guy” in his dust.