Ranking the 6 Best Golfers 20 and Under

Rory McIlroy has proven without a doubt that he is the next great player in golf. Tiger Woods, while No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings, is going to have to play very well to close the gap between he and the remarkable Northern Ireland native.

And while that rivalry is officially on, it's always fun to look into the future and see who the next great one might be.

Here's a look at six young men who you might hear about in the future. And for a couple of them, it very well could be sooner rather than later.

Alabama's Bobby Wyatt Is the Top-Ranked Amateur

There’s no better way to catch the eye of the golfing world than by shooting a record round, and that’s what the University of Alabama’s Bobby Wyatt did in the 2010 Alabama Boys State Championship.

He posted a 57 that day and hasn’t slowed down much since.

He’s ranked first in the amateurgolf.com rankings, fourth in the World Amateur rankings.

Wyatt was a medalist at the 2012 U.S. Amateur Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club and made it to the Round of 16 before being eliminated by teammate Justin Thomas.

Justin Thomas Was a Freshman Sensation at Alabama

Prior to joining Wyatt at Alabama, Justin Thomas’ claim to fame was being the third-youngest player to make the cut in a PGA Tour event when he played the weekend at the 2009 Wyndham Championship. He was 16 years, two months and 23 days old when he did so.

He won the Haskins Award and the Nicklaus Award, presented to the National Player of the Year in his first year at Alabama. He also won the Phil Mickelson Award as National Freshman of the Year. He was the first Alabama player to win those honors.

The Haskins Award earned him a spot in the Greenbrier Classic, where he made the cut. He is second in both the World Amateur rankings and the amateurgolf.com rankings.

Julien Brun

Few freshman golfers have made the kind of impact on their school and program the way Julien Brun did when he arrived at the campus of Texas Christian University last fall.

He’s a native of Antibes, France, had a world amateur ranking of 63 and was the top-rated amateur in France.

As he was learning his way around campus, he was earning such accolades as the NCAA Championship Reserve Medalist, a PING first-team All-American, a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award, a Palmer Cup selection for the European team and he set the TCU record for individual wins in a season (three).

Oh yeah, he finished the season with a scoring average of 70.67.

Early in his sophomore season, he won the Carmel Cup (the first tournament of the year for TCU), represented France in the World Amateur Team Championship where he finished tied for fourth and became the sixth amateur to win on the European Challenge Tour at the Allianz Golf Open, in his home country.

That win enabled him to turn pro if he wanted, but he chose not to. The 20-year-old is ranked sixth in the World Amateur rankings and 60th in the amateurgolf.com rankings.

Beau Hossler Grabbed the Attention of the Golfing at Olympic Club

As a 16-year-old, Beau Hossler was an unlikely competitor in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club. He missed the cut there, but he made a big impression at the 2012 Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

The Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif. native posted rounds of 70-73-70 in the first three rounds and was on the first page of the leaderboard going into Sunday’s final round.

The final-round heat got to him and he shot a 76. Hossler is ranked third in Golfweek’s junior boys rankings and 77th in the World Amateur Golf rankings.

He has committed to the University of Texas for 2013.

14-Year-Old Andy Zhang Has a Bright Future

When Andy Zhang moved to the United States from Bejing, China to play golf, he probably didn’t envision playing in the U.S. Open at age 14.

But there he was in June, standing nervously on the first tee at Olympic Club in San Francisco, the youngest player to ever compete in a U.S. Open.

He attends the David Leadbetter Academy in Bradenton, Fla. after taking up golf at age six and working with a coach at age seven.

Zhang got into the Open after Paul Casey withdrew due to injury.

Jordan Spieth Has Helped Texas Win an NCAA Championship

Jordan Spieth and Tiger Woods are the only two golfers to have won the U.S. Junior Amateur multiple times. Woods won the event three straight years ('91-93), Spieth won it in 2009 and 2011.

He was given an exemption to play in the 2010 HP Byron Nelson Championship, the first amateur exemption since 1995. He made the cut, the sixth-youngest player to make the cut in a PGA Tour event. He did the same thing the next year.

He was the No. 1-ranked player in the Polo Golf Rankings for the best junior golfers in the U.S. He plays collegiately for the University of Texas, where he's picked up three wins his freshman year, and he helped lead his team to the NCAA Division I title while becoming a first-team All-American. He is ranked fifth in the World Amateur rankings and 62nd in the amateurgolf.com rankings.

He tied for 21st (and low amateur) in the U.S. Open this year after getting in when Brandt Snedeker withdrew. That vaulted him to the top spot in the World Amateur Golf rankings.

He’s fifth in that ranking now and 62nd in amateurgolf.com rankings.