The Road To Somewhere

Young Pros, Former USGA Champions Are Poised To Take Victory Step

March 28, 2007

BySteveElling

Orlando - Fitting that those palm-sized personal electronic devices include handy arrows to facilitate the reading of messages. One arrow points north, the other points south.

Trevor Immelman, a past USGA titleholder, has made waves with his play of late. (USGA Photo Archives)

Whenever second-year player Camilo Villegas gets an e-mail message after experiencing yet another close call in a big PGA Tourevent, he knows what's coming. The congrats, followed by the condolences.

Scrolling up, scrolling down.

"It's so funny because you get all the calls, all the e-mails and everybody is going, 'Hey, congratulations,'" said Villegas, 25, a rising tour star who was the runner-up to Hunter Mahan at the 1999 U.S. Junior at York (Pa.) Country Club. "It's positive in the beginning, and then there's kind of a negative touch because you just didn't win the golf tournament. 'Keep your head up, come on, keep going, don't forget the fact that you didn't win.'"

Forget? That issue is ever at the fore for an increasingly large number of promising young players. Over the past few months, after years of waiting for Generation Y to learn the ABC's of winning, the 20-somethings are starting to shed their diapers and torment their elders.

Some of the most productive players of the season's first three months are members of the PGA Tour's comparative Kiddie Corps - broadly defined as anybody younger than Tiger Woods, the guy who set the bar so unrealistically high for all the young dudes in the first place.

Atop the list, after amassing 10 runner-up finishes since his lone victory five years ago, is 27-year-old Charles Howell, who mercifully defeated Phil Mickelson in a playoff to win the Nissan Open in February. You could hear Howell, the 1996 U.S. Junior runner-up, exhale all the way from Los Angeles.

"There was a day when they thought you really weren't supposed to win much until your early 30s," said Howell. "Through golf, I sometimes feel like I am 27 going on 45."

These days, he and his proximal peers are blowing .45-caliber holes in the competition. South Africa's Trevor Immelman, 27, the 1998 U.S. Amateur Public Links champion, has climbed into the world top 15; Aussie Aaron Baddeley, 26, the 1998 U.S. Junior runner-up, has won twice in the past year; Brits Luke Donald (No. 11 on world ranking list) and Paul Casey, both 29 and former Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup standouts, continue to pile up international victories; while non-winners such as Justin Rose, a 1997 Walker Cupper for GB&I, and Villegas, from England and Colombia, respectively, have come within inches of recording their first U.S. wins. Of course, mega-talented Adam Scott, 26, climbed into the world top 5 last fall after winning the season-ending Tour Championship.

Finally, after years of hammering young players en masse for not living up to their lofty expectations, progress can clearly be seen. There's a clear trajectory and a slew of players seemingly have been caught in the jet wash. The next logical step is to make some noise in the major championships. While all of the aforementioned players have enjoyed success in other USGA competitions - Donald was a U.S. Amateur semifinalist in 2000 and Scott reached the semis of the 1999 APL - none has broken through at a major championship.

In fact, none of those players owns a top-10 finish at the U.S. Open. Donald tied for 12th in 2006, while Casey finished 15th.

"They are sort of chipping away at it," said Sean Hogan, a swing coach at the Leadbetter Academy in Orlando who works closely with Immelman and Howell, not to mention 2003 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links winner Michelle Wie. "They all have to find their own recipe because for each guy, it's just a little different."

A dash of panache helps, but a downright dollop of experience is indispensable.

"[Howell] has started to mature, his patience level is really getting there," said Hogan. "Most players, like [2003 U.S. Open champion] Jim Furyk and David Toms, don't come into their own until there are in their 30s. They figured out how to win. Figuring out that last piece, that last 5 percent, that's the intangible. Some guys never find it."

It can't help that Woods, an eight-time USGA champion, won 10 of his dozen major championships before he was 30. With the arrival of every potential impact player, be it from the college or international ranks, the inevitable comparisons begin.

Charles Howell III has quietly put together a strong year thus far. (USGA Photo Archives)

"Every time a young, good player comes out, we've got to talk about it," said Villegas, who starred at the University of Florida and advanced to the round of 16 at the 2001 U.S. Amateur. "We got to say, 'Is this young guy going to be able to go get Tiger? Is this guy going to be the next Jack?' It's not that easy. It's pretty competitive out here. It gets more and more competitive year after year.

"And we have had very few Tigers, or very few Jacks. Maybe we expect a little too much from [younger players]."

Simply put, the public has a hankering for a player to rival Woods, who has turned away challenges by the veteran guard at nearly every turn. Two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and 1990 U.S. Amateur winner Phil Mickelson have all made runs at the world No. 1, but haven't sustained any momentum. Now that Woods is 31, perhaps the assault will come from a new star a decade or so removed. After all, Nicklaus was 10 years younger than Arnold Palmer, and 10 years older than Tom Watson.

As far as the stars-in-waiting, Howell is clearly the anointed one. Former USA Walker Cupper Lucas Glover, with one tour win to his credit, is the only other American under age 30 who has been ranked in the top 50 this year. Howell has taken his lumps since Nicklaus himself, during a broadcast on CBS Sports several years ago, mentioned that he might be the player to challenge Woods.

"I think it's about experience, for one," said Howell, who enjoyed a fruitful amateur and college career, where he won the NCAA Division I title at Oklahoma State. "I think it takes a little bit of time to find out your routine, your way of doing things. If Tiger Woods would have never come around, I don't think a lot of the criticism would have happened for any of the young players.

"But geez, the game is taken so much more seriously at a much earlier age now that a lot of the criticism is deserved. I can stand up and say that and take the heat. At the same time, I think a lot of the younger players have done a little bit better then they have been given credit for."

Given their collective struggles to achieve in regular-tour events, the majors present a daunting obstacle. Since 1993, outside of Woods, the only players to win the U.S. Open in their 20s are Ernie Els and Lee Janzen. Augusta National has delivered a similar swat to the backside, too. Over the past dozen years, Jose Maria Olazabal's win in 1994 was the lone victory recorded by a player in his 20s other than Woods.

Howell had to take a step back before he founds his stride. After a sloppy 2006, he began without a berth in the Masters, which is staged in his hometown. Like plenty of young players, he needed to polish the deficiencies in his short game during the offseason, and did exactly that. He mustered three top-two finishes in his first six starts.

Like Immelman, Casey and Donald, among others, Howell seems poised to step into the Grand Slam arena. And we don't mean baby steps.

"I think now that Charles has won a second time, after being in some playoffs and being near the top of the leader board and not getting it done, I think that kind of lifted a little weight off his shoulders," said veteran Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA Champion. "Now, he is able to - I don't want to say breathe easier, because I have a hard breathing anyways - but I think he'll probably have a good year and contend for some majors."

Steve Elling is a freelance writer based in Orlando, Fla.This is his first piece for usga.org.