Young guns on Tiger's heels

“Some of the guys have come up to me who haven’t really been on the [PGA] Tour that long and said, ‘Mister Woods,’ ” he said at the Bay Hill Classic the other day. “That’s when you know. I used to be the young guy out here. I used to say ‘Mister’ to everyone else.”

The under-25 players have had a significant impact on the PGA Tour this season. Last Sunday, 23-year-old Matt Kuchar, with a megawatt smile that makes moms and marketers swoon, came from three shots behind at the turn, posted a 66 and won the Honda Classic by two shots, getting his first PGA Tour victory in only his sixth start as a rookie pro.

Charles Howell III, 22 and a former NCAA champion from Oklahoma State, played the tour on sponsor’s exemptions last year after bypassing his senior season, made the cut in 20 of 24 events and earned $1.5 million in prize money. He was named the tour’s rookie of the year and is ranked 20th on the money list with $580,000.

David Gossett, 22 and a former University of Texas star, won the ’99 U.S. Amateur, turned pro after the 2000 British Open and won the John Deere Classic in his fifth tour start last summer. He shot 59 in PGA qualifying school before the start of the 2001 season, earned a Buy.com Tour card and became the first sponsor’s-exemption player to win on the PGA Tour since Woods in ’96 at the Las Vegas Classic.

Sometimes it’s easy to forget Spain’s Sergio Garcia, with three victories on the PGA Tour and four more in Europe, is 22 and has been named to two European Ryder Cup teams. Garcia won the season-opening Mercedes Championship in January and is seventh on the money list with $920,000 in five events. Most believe he’ll have a major championship breakthrough at any time, what with three top 12 finishes, including finishing second to Woods at the memorable ’99 PGA at Medinah when he was 19.

Scads more golfers under the age of 25 are having success around the world, including Australians Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley, South African Rory Sabbatini and Englishman Luke Donald. The latter two both played collegiate golf in the United States, Sabbatini at Arizona and Donald at Northwestern.

And on Thursday, 17-year-old Ty Tryon, a high school junior who lives a drive and a wedge from the first tee at Bay Hill, will make his fourth start of the season here. He merely shot 66 in the gut-churning final round of qualifying school to earn his playing card and will play the seven events he is allotted until he turns 18 in June.

Why so many rising young stars at such an early age? The Tiger Woods phenomenon is a factor, one that will expand exponentially when the very best of all those kids who took up the game because of him start rising to the highest level.

Improved teaching methods, more access to facilities because of various junior programs around the country and fabulous collegiate competition are also having a significant impact on the current youth movement in tours around the world.
“Call it the Tiger Era, or call it whatever you want,” said Arnold Palmer, who didn’t turn professional until he was 25. “In the last 20 to 25 years, maybe even back to the ’60s, more kids, more parents are becoming aware of what can happen if you’re a pretty good golfer.

“The fact we’ve made golf more and more available to young people has caused it. We’re going to see more young people, young stars, both men and women coming into the game. I have a 14-year-old grandson [Sam]; he’s 6 feet, 180 pounds, and he can hit the ball almost as far, if not as far as Tiger Woods. He doesn’t have the control or the posture or the maturity, but he’s in the 60s and 70s constantly, winning tournaments at 14.”

Palmer also made it a point to emphasize Sam won’t be taking the same high school or pro tour approach Tryon is attempting — not as long as grandpa has anything to say about it.

“He’ll compete in high school starting this year, and if everything goes well and he keeps his nose clean, he’ll go to Wake Forest [Palmer’s alma mater], play four years and graduate. If he’s a good enough player, he might play on the [PGA] Tour. That’s my direction for him.”

Here at Bay Hill, with Kuchar and Tryon among 156 players in the field teeing off Thursday, there’s a stark contrast in the way two exceptionally talented young men have arrived on the PGA Tour.

Kuchar is the poster boy for staying in school, getting a degree, playing college golf and trying to make it on the tour. During his sophomore year at Georgia Tech, he made a huge splash on the national scene, tying for 14th at the Masters and 21st at the U.S. Open in 1998 and attracting a throng of agents and corporate sponsors who were prepared to offer $2 million in endorsements if he would turn pro right away.

“I was very close” to turning pro, Kuchar said today. “I even made out a list of all the pros and cons for turning pro, staying in school and vice versa. It was such a tough decision. I thought my game was ready. I thought for me to take the next step for my game, the best thing would be to turn professional.

“But I kept on having this inner struggle, and I finally wrote out a note that said, ‘The PGA Tour is going to be there forever, it’s not going anywhere.’ I saw myself two years down the road, five years down the road, even if I was successful in winning out here, wishing I had two years over again to be a college kid. I didn’t want to have that regret. You make decisions based on happiness. I knew staying in school was the right decision. I knew that was a decision that was going to make me the happiest.”

Kuchar also wants it known he has no problem with Tryon taking a different route.

“There is no right way to do this,” Kuchar said. “Each case is different. I’m happy for Ty. I’d even like to see him out here full-time now. I feel bad that he went ahead and qualified, and now he’s got to wait [until he’s 18 to play full-time]. He earned his stripes, so get it going.”

Palmer also declined to criticize Tryon’s decision to pass up college but made it very obvious it’s not the sort of advice he would give his grandson.

“I’d say, ‘Sam, you can certainly do what you want to do. I’m not going to stop you. I’m going to advise you that this life is short, and there are a lot of things you need to know other than golf. One is education. The other is fun. Girls, other things that are important to young people.’

“The early turning pro and becoming a touring pro, once you do it, you’re there, there’s no turning back,” Palmer said. “We don’t talk about the people that did it, and we don’t hear about them again. There are a lot of them out there who turned pro at 19 and 20, and it didn’t work. We only hear about the success stories.”

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