Danny Lee recently became the youngest winner in the history of the European Tour with a win in Australia at the Johnnie Walker Classic. Rory McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic with an all-world field last month at the ripe old age of 19. Ryo Ishikawa has won twice on the Japan Pro Golf Tour and is 17.
In very short order, the faces of golf have gotten a lot younger and a lot less American. Naturally, the success of these astonishing talents has rendered a lot of fans and writers to begin to wonder if the days of American dominance are numbered. After all, the only American in the top 25 that is under the age of 30 is Anthony Kim. Despite his fantastic 2008, Kim has yet to produce early on in 2009.
Sure, the greatest player in the world is American. The man that has long been considered the bridesmaid to that title — Phil Mickelson — is American. Kenny Perry is seemingly in the prime of his career at nearly 49-years-old. With all of the red, white, and blue's greatest players over 30 (and many over 40), the critics may be onto something.
The days of American golfing dominance could be coming to a close.
It isn't that Americans are particularly getting worse. It may just be that the world is finally catching up to the USA.
This trend has happened in other sports where Americans once dominated. A prime example is basketball, which has become a much more popular and competitive sport on a global scale. American basketball rested on its laurels while the rest of the world improved by forming national basketball programs and fielding squads which played together from the teenage years until their leap to the professional leagues.
When the United States couldn't even be respectable in the 2004 games, it was time for a response. The Redeem Team was formed three years out from the Beijing games with the mission of restoring American basketball to its rightful place. With careful planning, player selection, and a whole lot of money, the American program worked. We won and we have gold medals.
Perhaps it is time for the United States to make a similar investment in golf. The United States lags well behind European and Australasian nations in nationalizing golf programs. We have relied on the private system that has very capably been developed and maintained by organizations like The First Tee and the American Junior Golf Association.
The problem with this model is that golf is an expensive sport. Travel costs money. Practice costs money. Equipment costs money. Amateurs cannot maintain their status and have sponsorships, so the burden for these costs is left of the families of these aspiring golfers. The AJGA can only go so far in offering scholarships for players that are not well-off or as able to play.
Meanwhile, in Europe, children can get into national golf programs as teens. They learn how to play golf tournaments with solid instruction that is available and relatively inexpensive. In some cases, it is all paid for the player. The players get exposure to tournament golf, team golf, and the rigors of becoming a professional golfer. This leaves many European kids in a better place to come to the United States and participate in our lauded junior events.
It also prepares them better to come to the United States for the next step — collegiate golf. That model does not really exist in Europe, which forces developing players to decide either to turn pro or to continue to evolve by playing here. McIlroy and Lee being the exception to the rule, most European and Australian players opt to come play in college.
The sum of the experience for these foreign-born players is an advantage for them if they make it to the European and PGA Tours. They have had golfing careers that have had less financial worry and more time playing golf. They have extra years' worth of learning and experience that outpace their American counterparts.
Is it no wonder then that we see more foreign-born young guns than American ones? Americans that have the raw talent to make it to the PGA Tour then must figure out how to harness it and balance out that need with the financial need to play well enough to keep their dream alive.
The aforementioned Anthony Kim struggled with the balance in his early years on Tour. After finishing second in his first PGA Tour start in 2006, Kim admittedly struggled with maturity and focus. Fortunately, he discovered this on his own. Still, could he be even further along now if he had a national program that could have mentored him for many years?
As it turns out, it seems that the American golf development program ends with the Nationwide Tour. The Nationwide Tour boasts a stunning number of alumni that have gone on to win on the PGA Tour. Over 240 former Nationwide Tour players have won on the PGA Tour. Countless others have earned their Tour card. Many of them are Americans that were junior or collegiate golf standouts that proved unpolished at the end of their amateur careers. They needed extra seasoning to reach the PGA Tour.
Meanwhile, their young counterparts are bypassing the European Tour's minor leagues — the Challenge Tour — and winning in Europe now. They have yet to make much of a splash in the United States in terms of wins. Europeans still do not win many major championships. Still, young golfers are coming from overseas and having modest success.
The take away from all of this is that there is a reason why you do not see many young Americans winning golf tournaments. It is because they struggle from the start against their foreign counterparts. They take longer to mature and catch up, but may turn out to prove equally — if not more — successful over the duration of their careers. In other words, if you are an American golf fan, then patience is a virtue.
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