Emergence of Golf's Young Guns

[gw67]

For the past few President’s Cup and Ryder Cup matches, a number of the participants, including Tiger, and golf writers have openly wondered about the absence of top young golfers. Garcia and Howell started off strong a few years ago but both have experienced problems with their games and young golfers from the amateur ranks and the Nationwide tour were not making a big impact. As described in the following two articles, that seems to be changing:

http://www.pgatour.com/2008/tournaments/r011/05/06/young.guns.lead/index.html
http://www.pgatour.com/2008/tournaments/r011/05/06/20_somethings/index.html

Immelman, Scott and Kim are at the forefront of the youth movement but Snedeker, Rose, O’Hair, Baddeley, Moore, Villegas, Watney, Marino, Holmes and Mahan are not too far behind. Garcia is as talented as any of them and is still young enough to realize his potential if he straightens out his problems on the green.

Several of the golfers who have been at the top of the tour are either entering their late 30’s or are already there. I expect many of them to continue to be competitive and win some tournaments but eventually the competition for Tiger will come from the players who are younger than him. It appears that it is beginning to happen.

gw67

[ugadevil]

I really like Snedeker. I was pulling for him in The Masters, and really appreciated the passion and emotion he was willing to show. Also, every time I've watched a tournament over the past couple weeks, Anthony Kim has been near the top. Maybe he's just on a hot streak, or maybe this is his coming out party, but he's really playing well. Mahan was really strong last season, but hasn't made any big noise yet. As long as Bubba Watson doesn't become the elite young player in the game, I'm happy.

[gw67]

This must be a common topic for the golf writers. Len Shapiro wrote a piece in this morning's Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/07/AR2008050703622.html?sub=AR

In the article, he mentions that Mickelson and Duval won a slew of tournaments before they were 30 and contrasts this with today's young players. The mention of Duval makes me shake my head. It is now painful to watch him play. I attended the Presidents Cup matches at RTJ in 2000 and was fortunate to get free tickets for all days. I saw Tiger play a few holes but the crowds around him were too great and I spent most of my time watching Els, Singh, Mickelson, Love, Furyk, Norman, Price, Elkington, Weir and Duval. IMO, the best ball stricker among these players was Duval. He bombed his drives and kept them in play and he hit his irons close. We positioned ourselves on a par five one morning and only he and Tiger were able to reach the green in two. He was also one of the few players who had what it took to compete head-to-head with Tiger. Boy, has his game deteriorated.

gw67