In case you’d forgotten amid all this Olympic palaver, there is a golf event on down in Troon this week. And, no it’s not the Lochgreen Husband & Wife Salver.

The story so far in Open Championship week has been all about these rings of increasing ire. Rather like the ins and outs of Rio, the narrative is constantly evolving at the top end of global golf too. There’s been talk of a new Big Three. Or is it a Fab Four? In this numbers game, with a strength in depth that’s deeper than a burial at sea, it’s hard to say these days. It used to be quite easy, of course. Tiger Woods’s tyrannical rule during his pomp meant that he was the undisputed No 1.

Now that the game’s been liberated, it seems nobody wants to completely take charge for fear of provoking a bloody coup. One minute it’s Rory McIlroy ruling the roost. The next, it’s Jordan Spieth making an assault on the throne. Jason Day has enjoyed his period of royalty and currently sits at the head of the order and now it’s Dustin Johnson who seems destined to be king for a bit.

Golf in the modern era has more changes of the guard than Buckingham Palace. It’s a fickle game and nobody does fickle quite like the golfing media as they flick between gushing adoration and shrugging indifference like somebody relentlessly yanking on a pull chord light switch.

Spieth knows all about that. Last year, as he chased the Grand Slam, he could do no wrong. This season, he’s won twice, finished runner-up in the Masters – after that collapse – and has been third but that doesn’t cut it in these demanding times when you are only ever a few events away from a so-called crisis. “Everyone goes through these peaks and valleys,” admitted Spieth. “I’ve still won twice this year and if that’s a valley then it’s going to be a lot of fun when I get back to a peak. No offence, but you guys (in the media) have made me feel like it’s a valley in all honesty.”

Ups and downs are par for the course and McIlroy has endured plenty of those this season. It’s been a funny campaign for the Northern Irishman with flashes of brilliance mixed in with costly errors. He has finished third in the WGC Cadillac Championship, fourth in the Memorial and won his own Irish Open this season but in this Fab Four alongside Day, Johnson and Spieth, he has been branded the Ringo Starr by some uncompromising outlets. Harsh? Well, it depends on who your favourite Beatle was but in the long and winding road of the Open Championship don’t rule out McIlroy being top of the hit parade. And don’t worry about his encounter with the famous, perilous par-3 Postage Stamp in practice yesterday “I think I took eight or nine shots,” he reported. Let it be and all that.

"It's probably not the first time I've been compared to the Beatles," added McIlroy. “Those guys (Spieth, Johnson and Day) are having a great run at the minute. I can't worry about other guys. Winning majors is not easy. If someone said to me when I won the PGA Championship at Valhalla that I won’t win one of my next five majors I’d be like ‘yeah, well sometimes it goes like that and it goes in cycles'. It’s a very long career. If it means a dry spell of two years then so be it.”

Justin Rose, meanwhile, is certainly wary of McIlroy’s menace. “I think the measure of how we judge players is too harsh,” said the former US Open champion. “If you start to criticise him at this point in the season I think you could end up with egg on your face because he could definitely go on a run that could see him win three or four or five of the next six or seven events. You can’t be at your best all the time and I don’t think he’s a player you should worry about. I think we’re being too hard.”

Spieth came up just short in his rousing quest on the third leg of the Grand Slam during the Open at St Andrews last year. The Claret Jug did elude him although he did get to hold it in his clutches. “I was with Zach (Johnson) on the night he won it so the Claret Jug is something I’ve held in my hands,” he said. “I crave to have it in my possession at some point.”

Spieth, Johnson, Day, McIlroy? It’s a Fab Four but there are plenty more. This is Open season, after all.