Scottie Scheffler is ranked 5th on the OWGR
There’s a youth movement sweeping through professional golf, and it is scaling the highest peaks in the game. For the first time since the Official World Golf Rankings were introduced in 1986, the top-5 ranked players in the world are all under the age of 30 (as of the time of publishing this issue of India Golf Weekly).
When American Scottie Scheffler won the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida earlier this month, it took him up to fifth in the rankings and knocked Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who is 32, down to sixth. The four men ahead of Scheffler in the rankings are: Spain’ Jon Rahm (27), American Collin Morikawa (25), Finland’s Viktor Hovland (24) and Patrick Cantlay (29) of the USA.
In fact, McIlory and 37-year-old Dustin Johnson, who is ranked No. 9, are the only two players over 30 in the top 10. In the past, a golfer’s prime was expected to be in his 30s, when wisdom and experience can complement physical skills. But the newest generation of golfers is proving that isn’t the case. They are mentally better trained and in better physical shape from the moment they set foot on tour. And they are ready to win immediately.
The results bear that out. This season 11 of 19 tournaments have been won by players in their twenties.
“These young players are coming from all over the world at a young age, having success on the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour at a very early age, and that depth of talent, you talk about the top 5, you extend it past the top 5 into the top 30 and the top 50, the athleticism, the youth, the preparedness, the system is working, and it’s arguably the most exciting time in the history of the PGA Tour for that reason,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan told USA Today.
Credits:-
Photo – PGA TOUR