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Golfing Young Guns – Who will be the next Tiger Woods?

By January 20, 2012December 3rd, 2014No Comments

Tiger WoodsWhile Tiger has been the ‘Pharaoh of the Fairways’ since the late 1990s, he has suffered a severe dip in form and even though there are signs of improvement it remains to be seen whether he can dominate the game like he once did. With Tiger off the top spot the golfing world is ready and waiting for someone else to grab the reigns and although Luke Donald has had a tight grip on the top spot for some time one gets the impression that one of the following golfers will explode into life sooner rather than later and leave the comparatively old Donald and Co trailing in their wake.

2012 will be another fascinating one for the game of golf because we’re undoubtedly on the cusp of a new era for the game. Whether Tiger Woods ever gets his bite back is still open to question, but even if he does he’s going to have to face the fact that, at 36, it’s not going to be quite as sharp as it once was – and as we all know, the margins between winning or not are incredibly slim.

The profile of Tiger’s main rivals has changed from bloated and content middle-aged multi-millionaires with families and international course design businesses, to young, fit, single and very hungry young lions with everything to prove and a healthy lack of respect for an ageing icon. These are the players who have the time, ambition and talent to put Tiger to the sword in pursuit of their dreams.



Augusta National

The 10th hole at Augusta National – Where it all went wrong for Rory in 2011



Rory McIlroy

He’s apparently been giving girlfriend Caroline Wozniacki tips on mental toughness so she can claim her first Grand Slam tennis title, and after 2011 Rory Mcilroy certainly has the qualifications. He may be just 22, but he’s already been through more than most golfers face in a lifetime. In 2011, he became the youngest player ever to lead The Masters after one round. He stretched that lead at Augusta National to four shots after 36 holes, only to finish the event by shooting the worst round ever by any professional golfer leading after the third round of The Masters – an 80. To bounce back by winning the US Open at Congressional just two months later is the stuff legends are made of. His 72-hole total of 268 (16-under) was a new US Open record, beating the previous record of 272 jointly held by Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen, Jim Furyk – and a certain Tiger Woods, who notched up this total with a massive winning margin at Pebble Beach in 2000. Not only has Rory impressed in recent majors but towards the end of 2011 he seemed to have learned how to win ugly. Let’s face it…when Rors is playing and putting well there are few who can keep pace but adding that extra steel to his game could prove important if he wishes to have a Tiger-esq year.
[youtube width=”600″ height=”338″ video_id=”Yz_2rTk65Qo”] YGT Ambassador Darren Clarke talking about the rising stars of the professional game including Rory McIlroy



Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach – Scene of Tiger’s record breaking victory in 2000



Rickie Fowler

The 23-year-old has more headlines than wins to his name, but the 2010 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year became the youngest American to play in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor in 2010 and he did beat Rory McIlroy to win his first professional title, the Kolon Korea Open in 2011. He’s enjoyed a lot of strong performances as a pro, including a tie for 5th at the Open Championship at Royal St George’s last year and his exuberant style and aggressive game has made him a crowd favourite. Tiger always wears red on the last day of an event, while Fowler opts for bright orange. If he can learn to convert his strong performances into wins more regularly, his future won’t just be bright, it’ll be stellar.



TwentyTen

Celtic Manor – Here Rickie Fowler became the youngest American to play in the Ryder Cup



Matteo Manassero

He’s still only 18 but he seems to have been around for an age. Just how good can this brilliant Italian be? Well, at age 17 he became the youngest golfer to win a European Tour event when he clinched the Castello Masters at Club de Campo near Valencia, beating local hero Ignacio Garrido by four shots. Earlier that year, at 16 years and 11 months, he’d also become the youngest player to make the cut at The Masters, beating Bobby Cole’s record, set in 1967. As amateur he’d also become the youngest ever winner of the amateur Championship, at Formby Golf Club in 2009, and he won the Silver Medal as leading amateur in the Open Championship at Turnberry later that same year. As well being super talented, having boyish good looks and natural charm, a down-to-earth personality may just be his biggest asset. Put it this way…he has won a lot more than McIlroy had at this stage in his career.



Turnberry

Playing alongside the legendary Tom Watson, Matteo Manassero claimed the Sliver Medal at Turnberry in 2009.



Branden Grace

You may not have heard of this 23-year-old South African before, but he is a talent to watch out for and is improving all the time. He learnt his trade on the Sunshine Tour in South Africa, where he won twice, and finished tied for second, one stroke behind winner Retief Goosen at the 2009 Africa Open. He has just won for the first time on the European Tour, at the Joburg Open and while he may seem like a long shot as a dominant force in the game but he won the Joburg the hard way, showing extraordinary composure after Elson finished over two hours ahead of him to be clubhouse leader after firing a 63. Grace knew what he needed to do and was steadiness personified, notching up 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey to win by a stroke.

Tom Lewis

Who will ever forget the way Lewis scorched into a first round joint lead at the Open Championship at Royal St George’s last year? The then 19-year-old Englishman was still an amateur and, not only that his 65 was the lowest single-round score by an amateur in Open Championship history. He won the silver medal as leading amateur, and after playing in and inspiring his team to victory at the Walker cup, turned pro. Like Tiger, he made a fast start, finishing 10th in Austria on his debut in September and winning his maiden European tour event at 20 in only his third professional event – the Portugal Masters at the Oceanico Victoria Course on the Algarve.



Royal St Georges

Royal St. George’s – Where Tom Lewis burst onto the secne with a stunning opening round of 65.



Jason Day

Day is yet to convince as a tournament winner, but the scale of this Australian 24-year-old’s performances in Major tournaments in 2011 suggests he has an appetite for the biggest stage. Day became one of the world’s top-10 players after finishing runner-up in both the 2011 Masters at Augusta National and the US Open at Congressional. He’s the youngest man from Australia to win a US PGA Tour event after clinching the 2010 Bryon Nelson Championship at the Four Seasons Resort and Club in Dallas, demonstrating that while he may just be ‘the next Greg Norman’ he has a long way to go to become ‘the next Tiger Woods’.

Jordan Spieth

This 18-year-old is the only golfer other than Tiger Woods to win the US Junior Amateur championship more than once (Spieth won it twice, Woods three times). It’s hard to gauge just how good Spieth can become but he played in the PGA Tour’s 2010 Byron Nelson Championship – the event’s fourth amateur exemption in its history after Trip Kuehne, Justin Leonard and Tiger Woods – and he made the cut, becoming the sixth-youngest player to make the cut at a PGA Tour event. Spieth was tied for a creditable 7th place after the third round, and finished the tournament in a tie for 16th place. He currently plays college golf at the University of Texas and is a member of the Walker Cup team…expect big things!



Formby

Formby Golf Club – Manassero became the youngest ever winner of the Amateur Championship here in 2009



Ryo Ishikawa

It would be great to see this gifted and exciting 20-year-old Japanese player rise to the top of the world game. In May 2007, this precocious talent became the youngest winner ever of a men’s event on the Japan Golf Tour, claiming the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup at just 15! Obviously, he  competed as an amateur and it was his first tour appearance, but he managed to finish one shot ahead of Japan’s 9th top ranked player at the time, Katsumasa Miyamoto. Then, in May 2010, in the final round of The Crowns tournament, Ishikawa shot a 12-under-par 58 to win the tournament by five strokes. Feats like that have Tiger written all over them but Ishikawa hasn’t lived up to his potential in Major championship so far. If he does, Japan has a world-beater on its hands.



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Rory

Rory

The resident golf geek at Your Golf Travel. Have been lucky enough to have travelled far and wide playing golf and if I’m not writing about it at work, you will probably find me hacking it around my local course. Owner of 2 holes in one and some of the most crooked drives you have ever seen!

What's in my bag?
Srixon ZX5 Driver
Srixon ZX7 irons
Srixon ZX 2 iron
Cleveland RTX Zipcore 52 & 56
Cleveland Fullface 60
Odyssey O Works Red #7 putter

www.yourgolftravel.com/ygt-rory

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