Jordan Spieth was still smiling after his second place finish in the 97th PGA Championship as it saw him take Rory McIlroy's place as world No 1.
Spieth concluded his remarkable season in the major championships by finishing three shots behind Jason Day at Whistling Straits, but that result was enough to lift him to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.
The 22-year-old won the Masters and US Open before finishing in a tie for fourth in the 144th Open at St Andrews, where his dreams of a Grand Slam finally came to an end.
Asked by Sky Sports' Rich Beem if the No 1 spot was a nice consolation prize, Spieth said: "Sure it is. That's as good of a consolation prize as I have ever had.
"I'm really pleased. It was not easy to get out there and try to dethrone Rory, and it's going to be even harder to try and stay on top.
"But this year, the way we have played I think we've earned it as a team and we are going to work our butts off to stay in this position."
Spieth started the day two behind Day but could never quite get close enough to put pressure on the Australian, who was winning his first major championship after a number of near misses.
A dropped shot at the ninth proved particularly costly and Spieth said that was the key part of the round where he should really have been making up ground.
He added: "The middle of the round, really eight through 12, I had a really good opportunity to shoot three-under and I played those holes even par.
"That was killer because at that point I would have got it to about square and it would have been a different story coming down the stretch.
"But it was Jason's day today and he really didn't miss many shots, and when he did it ended in a good spot and he made plenty of putts."