Golf's Young Pretenders: Teens Chasing the Green Jacket at Augusta

The first of this year's golf majors, the US Masters Golf Championship (The Masters) tees off this weekend at the Augusta National Country Club in Georgia. 93 of the world’s best golfers, from the PGA Tour, European Tour and Asian Tour, will compete for the Green Jacket.
 

While much of the attention will be on the return of Tiger Woods, and his prospective duel against other major winners such as Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson, three teenagers will be in the line up this year. While none will be among the bookies favourites for the Masters, they could all have a real impact on the championship.

Young Pretenders at the Masters

1. Danny Jin-Myung Lee (이진명, 18), a naturalised New Zealander born in South Korea, is the world's leading amateur. 

When winning the US Amateur Championships last August he became the youngest ever champion - taking that accolade from Tiger Woods (1994).

This February, Danny Lee won the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia, becoming the youngest ever winner of a European Tour (who co-sanctioned the event) tournament.

Reputed (inaccurately) to have turned down $100m in endorsements since winning the US Amateurs, to stay amateur, he plans to turn pro after the Masters.

I listened to Danny Lee being interviewed last night on Radio Five Live (which is what promtped me to write about these guys) and he showed great humility, a very level head, and seemed very unphased but excited about the prospect of playing in the Masters. That bodes well for a career at the top of the sport. He also seemed to have the long-term perspective that he didn't need to go chasing money now, but by looking after his golf the money would look after itself.

2. Rory McIlroy (19), from Holywood, Northern Ireland also made a big impact as an amateur, winning the silver medal (top amateur) at the 2007 Open Championships at Carnoustie. During that tournament he tied for third place after 18 holes, and seemed set for a big future. Indeed, he had already appeared in a European Tour event, as a 16 year old in the 2005 British Masters.

McIlroy first made the cut on the European Tour aged seventeen at the 2007 Dubai Desert Classic, a tournament that marked his first win as a Pro, in February of this year.

In the Autumn of 2007 Rory McIlroy turned pro, and finished 3rd in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and when he tied for 4th at the Madrid Open a week later he became the youngest affiliate member in the history of the European Tour to earn a tour card.

Early in 2008 McIlroy broke into the world's top 200, and in September 2008 missed out on his first tournament victory in a playoff, at the Omega European Masters. By the end of the season had made the top 100 of the world rankings and finished 36th on the European Tour's Order of Merit.

This winter has seen McIlroy go from strength to strength, finishing 2nd in the UBS Hong Kong Open, 3rd in the South African Open, and earning his Masters place by ending 2008 at 39th in the world (the youngest player to reach the top 50). His win in Dubai took him to 16th, before he reached the semis of the 2009 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

3. Ryo Ishikawa (石川 遼, 18) is Japanese and a professional who also became his Tour's youngest winner. As an amateur in 2007 Ryo, known as "Hanikami Ōji" (Bashful Prince), won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup aged only 15 years and 8 months.

After turning professional in 2008, Ryo won the Mynavi ABC Championships and become the youngest player to reach the world's top 100.

This year Ryo Ishikawa has been invited to play in a number of PGA Tour events, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Northern Trust Open and the Transitions Championship. He makes his Master debut as an International invitee of the Augusta National Golf Club, the hosts of the Masters Championships.

I think it is interesting and exciting that 3 youngsters, so close to each other in age, from different parts of the world, are making such an impact on the game. Let's hope that we can still see these guys playing on the Sunday at Augusta. If so, you never know...

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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com