Ranking the PGA Tour Golfers with the Brightest Futures
As anyone who's older than five years old has discovered, the future is very unpredictable.
That's why putting together a list that ranks the players with the best futures on the PGA Tour is a chancy proposition at best.
The players on this list are all known commodities, and based on their performances to this point, all are worthy of being great players. The other side of that coin, however, is that every player can't be great and with the number of highly talented youngsters, trying to achieve greatness will be even more difficult.
Take a look at this list and see what you think.
10. Tony Finau
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Tony Finau is a product of Golf Channel's Big Break series and the Web.com Tour.
Regardless of where he is, the bottom line with this 25-year-old? He hits the ball a long way.
And as he matures as a player, he'll develop a little control to go with that, which means this guy can be dynamic.
He averaged 310.3 yards off the tee last year and 307.9 in the first five events on the PGA Tour this fall.
The future looks very bright for Finau.
9. Hideki Matsuyama
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Hideki Matsuyama got off to somewhat of a quick start in 2014 and then got the big payoff in early June with a playoff victory in the Memorial Tournament in June.
The 22-year-old native of Japan carried great expectations with him when he started playing on the PGA Tour in 2013 and registered top-20 finishes in all six of his starts.
All the pieces are there for Matsuyama, who is still a baby in terms of his PGA Tour career.
8. Sang-Moon Bae
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Sang-Moon Bae won the Frys.Com Open in October and put up a T5 in the CIMB Classic in November. Not bad for a guy in only three starts thus far.
That comes after a 2014 season in which he had six top-25 finishes and and missed the cut in almost half (11) of his 24 starts.
Momentum certainly seemed to be on his side, and he seemed to be establishing himself as someone to keep any eye on.
And then came the news in a golfdigest.com story that Bae hadn't been able to get an extension for an overseas travel permit that would allow him to stay in the United States.
Unless there is some sort of resolution to the situation, Bae will have go back to South Korea and would likely have to serve two years in the military.
Stay tuned for how that one turns out.
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7. Brooks Koepka
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Brooks Koepka started the 2013-14 season with a tie for third at the Frys.com Open.
Midway through the season, he tied four fourth at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
After that, his first full year as a rookie on the PGA Tour was mostly ho-hum.
But the 24-year-old who made his way to the PGA Tour by winning on the European Tour's Challenge Tour has been an impressive young player, albeit one who is still learning how to play well consistently.
He hits the ball long enough, putts well and obviously has shown signs of being able to play on big stages.
Koepka will be fun to watch in the future.
6. Patrick Reed
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Patrick Reed gets a high place on this list not necessarily because of his two wins early in the 2014 season or the superstar performance he authored as a rookie on the U.S. Ryder a few months ago.
No, it has just as much to do about how he turned a season that started on a rapid decline right after he declared himself to be a top-five player in the world of golf after he won the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.
He missed five cuts, and his best finish in three other starts was a T35. But he was able to withstand the heat he was subjected to and slowly turned things around and finished his season with a good Ryder Cup performance.
That's the kind of intestinal fortitude necessary to create quite a legacy for himself.
5. Billy Horschel
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Billy Horschel has gained a reputation as a professional golfer as a guy with a fair amount of game and a whole lot of short fuse.
When he won two of the final three events on the FedEx Cup playoff run, Horschel's rep was updated a bit.
He's got a lot of game and while the fuse is still short, the detonator is a bit longer.
The 28-year-old proved he has plenty of game, and there's lots of time left in his career to do even more amazing things.
4. Justin Thomas
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This 21-year-old had a great college career at the University of Alabama and had a big season on the Web.com Tour.
He didn't get off to a great start on the PGA Tour in 2014, and the fall part of 2014-15 season was marginally better.
Regardless of his start, the future is very bright for Thomas. His golf toolbox is full, he knows what he wants, including wanting to grow into a young sensation like Jordan Spieth.
Watching him grow as a PGA Tour player figures to be most entertaining.
3. Jordan Spieth
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Jordan Spieth is in the enviable position of being the heir apparent to the best player in the world, Rory McIlroy.
And he's earned that position, no doubt about it. He's made a big splash in his first two years on the PGA Tour but, like Rickie Fowler, has won just once.
The young man has no fear and has shown signs of nerves only on rare occasions.
Those are a couple qualities for a player making a bigger and bigger name for himself in golf.
2. Rickie Fowler
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Rickie Fowler has the game of a champion, the swing of a champion and the attitude of a champion.
All that's left is for him to become a champion.
Fowler was the supporting actor to Rory McIlroy's award-winning run from the midpoint of the season on. He finished in the top five of all four majors and was a factor in each.
But it was another season without a win for Fowler, whose only title came in the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship.
Fowler is far too good to have not won more, but when he starts winning, he may win a lot.
1. Rory McIlroy
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The man is a three-time major champion, and he's just past his 25th birthday.
He can win his fourth major in April, which would give him the career Grand Slam.
And Rory McIlroy is driven. He wants to be the best in the world, which he is. And maybe, just maybe, he's motivated by the most holy of golf achievements, Jack Nicklaus and his 18 major championships.
The Northern Irishman grew up in the Tiger Woods' chase of the Golden Bear and has come to the conclusion that if anyone is going to beat 18, it might just be him.
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