In golf”s modern era, there have been several changing of the guard moments, historical tournaments of note when one generation of greats had their final moment on golf”s center stage while the next generation made its move to the forefront. Seldom are such moments thoroughly clean breaks from the past, yet nonetheless they are defining instances when the game seemed to take on a new direction with newer stars rising to the top.
At the 1960 United States Open at Cherry Hills outside Denver, the venerable Ben Hogan was in the hunt for a record fifth title. The 47-year-old Hogan, winner of nine major titles, was seven years removed from his 1953 campaign when he won the Masters, U.S. Open and the British Open in the same season. Playing a limited schedule from that year onward, Hogan”s only win was the 1959 Colonial Invitational, a hometown event for the Texan.
Arnold Palmer was the marquee tour professional in 1960. Palmer had victories in the 1958 and 1960 Masters and was the first pro golfer to take advantage of the new medium of television. Palmer was outgoing, dynamic and played the game just like Joe Six Pack with his lumberjack swing and his knack for pulling off the miracle shot. He was a big fan favorite and at 30 years of age, was in the midst of his golf prime.
Ohio State University college golfer Jack Nicklaus was in the field at the 1960 National Open because he was the defending United States Amateur champ. The 19-year-old Nicklaus was, at that time, the youngest Amateur winner to date. He was playing in his fifth major championship and had tied for 41st in the 1958 Open as well as finished tied for 13th in the 1960 Masters.
In the end, all three generations of golf, Hogan representing the past, Nicklaus giving us a glimpse of the future, and Palmer as the game”s reigning king, converged over the final nine holes at Cherry Hills. Palmer ended up posting a final-round 65 to beat Nicklaus, who struggled with his putting, and Hogan, who made double bogey on the watery 17th hole, to win his third of seven major titles and his one and only U.S. Open victory. Hogan, winner of nine majors and part of golf”s American triumvirate alongside Byron Nelson and Sam Snead, had failed in a last-gasp attempt to win a 10th major title and a record fifth U.S. Open. Nicklaus, who would turn professional two years later, would go on to dominate professional golf from the mid-1960s through the early 1980s, winning 18 major championships, the most in men”s professional golf.
A similar convergence of generations as well as cultures occurred at the 1984 British Open when eight-time major champion Tom Watson faltered down the stretch over the final holes at St. Andrews and opened the door for Spaniard Seve Ballesteros to win his fourth major title. It also marked the beginning of an era of European golf dominance joined by Sandy Lyle, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal and Ian Woosnam alongside Australian Greg Norman and Zimbabwe”s Nick Price.
It took a full year for the generation of the 1990s to morph into the greats of the new millennium with the Masters as the common setting. In 1996 Nick Faldo made up a seven-shot final-round deficit to defeat a crumbling Greg Norman to win the Masters, his sixth and final major title. Earlier in the week, Stanford University sophomore Tiger Woods, the reigning U.S. Amateur winner, missed the Masters” 36-hole cut.
The following year, Woods, with his three U.S. Juniors, three U.S. Amateurs, two professional victories and a PGA Tour Rookie of the Year award to his credit, romped to a 12-stroke victory over Tom Kite in the 1997 Masters, opening the door to the Tiger era on tour. While Woods would dominate his fellow professionals during the next 12 years, accumulating 14 majors, he did compete alongside multiple-major winners such as Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington.
During those 12 years, there were a handful of young, up-and-coming golfers who were given the mantle as the next Tiger. That group included Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott, Sean O”Hair, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day, among others. Yet while the aforementioned have exactly zero major titles to their credit, a potpourri of “who”s he” linksters collected major titles, including Todd Hamilton, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, Y.E. Yang and Trevor Immelman.
Since Tiger Woods” last major triumph in the 2008 United States Open at Torrey Pines, Woods has hit a fire hydrant and seen his personal life as well as his golf game hit the skids. Mickelson, Singh, Els and Harrington have all crossed the 40-year-old hurdle and seen their games digress, too. A number of veritable journeymen have been atop PGA Tour and European Tour leaderboards, and recent major champions have included golfers such as Charl Schwartzel, Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, Keegan Bradley and Louis Oosthuizen.
While I hate to compare the 1960 National Open or the 1984 British Open to the 2012 Honda Classic, another possible convergence on the Tiger era and the up-and-coming Rory McIlroy era did seem to take place last Sunday at the watery, contrived golf course that is the PGA National. Tiger Woods was able to return to his past, carding a 62 on Sunday to vault up the last-day leaderboard. Irishman McIlroy, a 22-year-old who won last year”s United States Open at Congressional in a truly dominating way, pulled a Tiger and made one dramatic par save after another to maintain his lead, win by two strokes, and take home the Honda Classic title. He also became the world”s No. 1 golfer, taking over that hot potato from Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, all of whom have been world No. 1 golfers in the post-Tiger era.
In the end, no one will be writing great golf books about the 2012 Honda Classic. Yet with the Masters just four weeks away and with a momentary rebirth in the games of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, the 2012 Masters will be a tournament that all golf fans can look forward to with total anticipation. It seems apparent that the changing of the guard is just around the corner.
