Ranking the Most Physically Gifted Golfers on the PGA Tour in 2015
Anybody who is good enough to play on the PGA Tour is an athlete to some degree.
But there are those elite guys out there who separate themselves from the masses by how gifted they are physically.
Want a couple hints? How about a left-hander who can move the ball as well as anyone ever has? Or a guy who made being a fit golfer cool again?
OK, enough hints.
Check out the list below and see who I think are the most physically gifted golfers on the PGA Tour.
7. Camilio Villegas
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Just take a look at the picture above.
Any questions as to whether Camilio Villegas is physically gifted?
The 33-year-old Colombian hit the PGA Tour full time in 2006 and became an instant sensation, not only for his sculpted body but his play too.
He's won just four times, including last year's Wyndham Championship that broke a four-year win drought. But he has earned over $17 million during his career.
He's made his "Spiderman" look at putts a world-wide calling card.
6. Jordan Spieth
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The scary thing about Jordan Spieth is that's he's still growing.
He won't reach his 22nd birthday until late July, and that means there's still lots of physical and mental growing to be done.
He's been nothing short of sensation since breaking onto the tour in 2013.
And that leads to the question as to how much better he might become. Spieth, like everyone else on tour, isn't perfect. There are things in his game that need to catch up to other parts of his game and time will, no doubt, take care of that.
Spieth always seems to be in control and a win soon will even intensify that.
5. Rickie Fowler
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Rickie Fowler would never be considered a physically imposing man at 5'9", 150 pounds.
But that's without a golf club in his hand.
The 26-year-old has proved capable of hitting all the shots, hitting them under pressure and converting at crunch time.
Fowler showed what he was made of last year when he finished in the top five in all four major championships, the first time that's been done since Tiger Woods did it in 2005.
There's much talent surrounding Rickie Fowler and his golf game, the kind of talent that only goes hand-in-hand with a physically gifted player.
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4. Dustin Johnson
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Dustin Johnson has long been considered one of the best athletes on the PGA Tour. At 6'4", 190 pounds, he has the build of a wide receiver, the talent to play basketball (he could palm a ball in the seventh grade) and the ability to do amazing things with a golf ball.
Johnson has won eight times on the PGA Tour, thanks to his ability to turn the ball either way as well as hit it prodigious distances. He's finished each season since 2008 in the top five in driving distance.
His return to the PGA Tour after his leave of absence will return excitement to the game.
3. Tiger Woods
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Tiger Woods revolutionized the game of golf when he won four times on the PGA Tour, including the Masters, in 1997.
His body was just one example of how he did so. Woods brought physical fitness back into the game and when combined with the skills he had and the talent to use those skills, they made him the most physically gifted player ever to play on the PGA Tour.
He's still in possession of all of that, but whether or not he'll be able to use it will be determined by how healthy Woods and his back will be in 2015.
2. Rory McIlroy
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Rory McIlroy is a powerful young man and not only because of his position in the game.
The physical power he's been blessed with makes him a special player in today's game.
There are lots of players who can now hit the ball over 300 yards off the tee on a regular basis.
But as he showed last summer, no one is capable of launching the ball high and far, keeping it in the fairway in the process. That allowed him to hit into greens with shorter clubs than his competitors, leading to birdies by the bunch.
That's the kind of winning formula only physically gifted players can pull off.
1. Bubba Watson
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He's unorthodox, he's quirky, he's moody, but Bubba Watson is one of the most physically gifted players to ever play the game.
Left-to-right, right-to-left, long distance, amazing short game, Watson has it all.
Since 2005, Watson has been no worse than fifth in driving distance.
The remarkable thing about Watson is that, other than his putting, everything else about this game is world-class.
And only a very physically gifted player can do that.
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