2011 PGA Championship: Will Youngsters Dominate at the Highlands Course?

Just look in the gallery.  

The best way to understand what is happening on the PGA Tour, is to get your head on a swivel.

Not too long ago a quick visual survey of the typical PGA Tour gallery would present Mr. and Mrs. Havencrantz and their portable chair stand jabbed in the ground.  They would then slowly lean against it and hoist what looked like a white baseball card series box up with two mirrors at each end, so they could see out over the heads of the people in front of them.  The people that used to come to golf tournaments were old.  Let’s call them the Havencrantz set.  They stayed at one hole and watched group after group parade through.

Not today.  Take a good luck around.  At the U.S. Open at Congressional, the younger-set was trekking the hills and dales with the players outside the gallery ropes.  And, they followed players like Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Rory Mcllroy and Dustin Johnson.  Gone are the days of the Sansabelt trousers and the nerd-rimmed glasses.  In - are the Oakley or Nike sunglass specs, with a flat-rimmed sports hat and a fitted neon golf shirt. And belts? Yes, wide belts with big belt buckles, right Anthony Kim and Rickie Fowler?  That part of the ensemble is a throwback.

The hip-hop generation has hit hard.  And, it's happening outside the ropes, because inside the ropes are some really good players.  The PGA Tour slogan used to be these guys are good.  Now, it should be, these young guys hit it hard.  There are younger stars in the game, and younger fans.

At the Atlanta Athletic Club, the old Georgian clubhouse will have some new vibes.  Just look on the practice range at the players with the iPod headphones with the cord running underneath their logo’s fitted neon shirt.

Here is a quick glance at the players under the age of 29 that will be -mark it down - buy the stock -  hit record....  Highlight, cut and paste this to your facebook page:

The winner of this week’s PGA Championship probably had a Gremlin’s or ET lunch box growing up.  They know what two all beef patties, special sauce, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun are all about.  And, they can hit the small dimpled ball a long way.  Then, they go find it and hit it again.This major championship belongs to the kids.  And, from the kids will come the champion.  Call them Generation Y, the millenials.  The kids that celebrated the new millennium by pushing the thirty and forty something’s on tour.  And, pretty soon they are going to take over the fairways.

Hunter Mahan, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Rory Mcllroy, Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim, Ryo Ishikawa, Chris Kirk, Bryce Molder, Ryan Moore, somebody under the age of thirty is going to win this year’s PGA Championship at the Highland’s Course.

This course is not for wily veterans, there is not much to a flat track that has very few nuances.  The course is right in front of them.  Rees Jones made the track firm with a new zoysia grass, but here is what to expect.  There are no TPC grass mounds, no bad bounces like Royal St. George’s, this is typical parkland PGA golf – boring, but for the taking.

Maybe Dustin Johnson has not won a major, but he's played in the last group enough to know where the trophy presentations take place. Sometimes experience is overated.  And, if it comes down to experience and talent - talent wins everytime.

In the 1990's junior golfers started playing a tournament schedule like the Tasmanian devil.  The tournament buffet has led to a battle-tested group of college golfers.  And, from this group we have:  Hunter Mahan and the human creamsicle, Rickie Fowler, from Oklahoma State. Clemson has had an orange rash of great players that was led by Lucas Glover, Jonathan Byrd and have you heard the name Kyle Stanley.  Then, Wake Forest’s Webb Simpson and Bill Haas.  Camillio Villegas from Florida and throw in a couple of yellow jackets, like Matt Kuchar and Bryce Molder.   Ryan Moore (UNLV) is continuing to impress and look at the number of first time PGA winners and it is becoming increasingly clear – the days of Tiger dominance are over.  As in splat, stomp, move it to the back burner – over.  Georgia's Chris Kirk and Stanly both played in the 2002 Boy's Junior Amateur at the AAC.

Proof is also in the PGA Tour statistics.  The player’s averaging the most birdies per round? It’s a gaggle of young players; Johnson, Webb Simpson, Rickie Fowler and Hunter Mahan.  Driving distance?  Again, find the rocket shots authored by Johnson, Gary Woodland, Kyle Stanley and one player that just ebbed into his 30’s, Bubba Watson.  Top 10 finishes?  It’s again a resume ripe with players named Day (8) , Mahan (7) and Haas (6).  This is not a coincidence, it's a trend.  Look around at the first time winner's on the PGA Tour in 2011.

The WGC Bridgestone was a good warm-up to the year's last major next.  Firestone and the Highlands course are very similar in length and set-up.  And, look at the final leaderboard.  Fowler and Day were step for step with Adam Scott's triumphant trek around Firestone.  And, a sleeper this week, Ishikawa, was also on the first page.

The time is now for the young players to carpe diem.  Two times that accentuate this will play out on Thursday and Friday.  Adam Scott is paired with Matteo Manassero and Ryo Ishikawa.  And, Sergio Garcia will play with Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler.  From these young groups will come some bold swings.  We can't ignore the development of these players.  Not too long ago, June to be exact, we were handing the torch to a young player from Northern Ireland.  Now, the next young talented player will step up and make the golf world take notice.  

Schwartzel, Mcllroy, Clarke....

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