The last month or so on the PGA Tour has been a Tiger-less one as the world”s No. 1-ranked golfer has been recovering from mid-April knee surgery. Life without Tiger on tour not only means that there are more winning opportunities for journeymen such as Ryudi Imada and Kenny Perry, but it also means that television ratings are down as is overall interest in the sport.
From my perspective, it kind of reminds me of professional golf in the 1990s. The Arnold Palmer-Jack Nicklaus generation had graduated to the senior tour, Tom Watson”s reign at the top was over and the best players of the day, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, spent the majority of their time competing on the European Tour. It was a time when Wayne Levi led the tour with four wins in 1990 and eight golfers topped the winning category with two wins each in 1991, a listing that included Billy Andrade, Tom Purtzer, Mark Brooks and Andrew Magee. Shades of mediocrity to be sure.
However, if one trend has reared its head during the first 22 PGA Tour events in 2008, it”s that there is an active youth movement working its way up golf”s leaderboard. A total of nine golfers who are in their 20s have won on tour this year, and while some of this season”s titlists are familiar faces such as Sergio Garcia and Adam Scott, others such as Andres Romero and Anthony Kim are just starting to make their mark.
D.J. Trahan got the ball rolling this year when he captured the Bob Hope Classic in Palm Desert in January. The former Clemson All-American spent his 2004 rookie year on the Nationwide Tour and then graduated to the big-boy tour the following year. From 2005 through 2007, Trahan performed erratically, missing more than half the weekend cuts. However, he was always good for a handful of top-10 finishes and he broke through in 2006 with a win at the late-season Southern Farm Bureau Classic.
Earlier this year, the 27-year-old Trahan was four shots behind veteran Justin Leonard entering the final round of the Hope. He stormed into contention with a final-round 65, good enough for a three-shot margin of victory. Nonetheless, Trahan is an inconsistent performer and his second-best finish on tour this year has been a 17th-place finish at Harbor Town.
In the world of “horses for courses,” J.B. Holmes has to have a great appreciation for the TPC of Scottsdale, site of the FBR Open. Holmes beat Phil Mickelson in a playoff this year just prior to the Super Bowl kickoff. Holmes is the ultimate power player who probably will never find his way anywhere near a U.S. Open leaderboard. Just 26 years old, Holmes also won the FBR Open in his rookie year on tour in 2006. In a lot of ways, he”s similar to Trahan with 10 missed cuts and 12 more in 2007. However, if they ever hold a major at the TPC of Scottsdale (not too probable), he could be a major winner. Otherwise, he simply needs to keep entering tourneys with wide-open fairways.
Another 20-something winner this year is Sean O”Hair, who won the PODS Championship in Florida in early March. It was also the second win on tour for the 25-year-old O”Hair, who first turned pro as a 17-year-old. O”Hair, a golfing prot?g?, was featured on 60 Minutes several years ago because of the negative relationship he had with his over-demanding father. O”Hair and his father have been estranged for five years.
Nowadays, O”Hair is married, relies on his father-in-law who serves as his financial advisor as well as his caddie, and has the all-around game where he could make an impact on the PGA Tour for the next two decades. O”Hair almost won the Players Championship last year and has the type of game to win the U.S. Open or the PGA.
Another veritable youngster who broke through this year is Andres Romero of Argentina, the winner at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans in late March. For Romero, who turned pro as a 16-year-old, it was his first win in the states and his seventh overall, including six international wins in Europe and South America. He also was one bad break away from winning the British Open at Carnoustie last summer. Right now his game is wild and crazy, but he has showed his hand by winning at a variety of venues.
The week before the Masters, Johnson Wagner captured the Shell Houston Open. A five-year pro who attended Virginia Tech, the 28-year-old Wagner has career stats similar to Trahan and Holmes. He misses a lot of cuts but he also has had glorious moments. Last year he missed the cut 18 times but still found a way to keep his tour card by finishing second at the Viking Classic. Of all the 20-somethings who”ve won on the PGA Tour this year, Wagner is the one most likely to be a one-hit wonder.
Three other young winners in 2008 have been around for a good deal of time and might lead us to believe that they are well beyond their 30th birthday. Instead, all of them are just 28 years old. Trevor Immelman of South Africa is the Masters champion and he handled the final day at Augusta National like a seasoned veteran. Adam Scott of Australia won the Byron Nelson four weeks ago. Sergio Garcia captured the Players two weeks ago and has been a factor at majors since 1999 when he was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship. Between them they have 15 PGA Tour wins and 23 international victories along with appearances in the Ryder and President cups. Strange to say, but all three are great ball strikers and very mediocre putters ? except when they win.
Finally, the youngest of the new breed is 22-year-old Anthony Kim. He lapped a tough field with a five-stroke win earlier this month at the Wachovia. A three-time All-American at Oklahoma, Kim is very Tiger-like, combining power and finesse along with the belief that he is unbeatable. Of the nine 20-somethings who have won on tour this year, he is the youngest, the toughest mentally, and I believe he has the brightest future. In the next few years he could be the competitive foil to Tiger Woods in much the same way Jack Nicklaus was defined by his historic battles with the younger Tom Watson.
Professional golf normally rewards those with experience, but the 2008 campaign has featured a bunch of 20-somethings who are actively taking their game to the next level. Right now they”re looking up at Phil Mickelson, ready to take his place as second banana.
