A Lost Season for the PGA Tour’s Next Generation

Over the weekend Japanese teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa, who created a media frenzy during his appearances in the U.S. earlier this year at The Masters, Northern Trust Open, etc...won the Mizuno Open, his third career title on the Japan Golf Tour. The victory puts the 17-year-old into the field for next month's Open Championship at Turnberry.

Fellow teen stars Rory McIlroy and Danny Lee also earned their first professional victories overseas, winning the Dubai Desert Classic and Johnnie Walker Classic respectively. Even 22-year-old amateur Shane Lowry catapulted onto the world golf scene with a win at the 3 Irish Open this year.

While teenagers and amateurs are experiencing remarkable success in Europe, the PGA Tour has been quite unkind to golf's supposed wunderkind generation. McIlroy played well, but hasn't seriously threatened to win a tournament. Lee has been a non-factor. The likes of Anthony Kim, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia and Camilo Villegas are collectively 0-27 in PGA Tour events in '09.

Following Kenny Perry's most recent win at the Travelers Championship, the 11^th of his PGA Tour career after he turned 40, the average age of the winners on the PGA Tour this season is 35.5. The top 10 in the FedEx Cup Standings comes in at an average age of 34.7. The youngest winner on Tour this year is Dustin Johnson (25), who won AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. The most consistent player in his 20s has been Sean O'Hair, who is eighth in the FedEx Cup Standings. If anything this proves how valuable experience is when competing against the deep and talented fields on the PGA Tour.

All logic and reason would lead you to expect this trend to continue until at least season's end. I guess 40 is the new 25, or maybe the ill effects of a quarter-life crisis can spill onto the golf course. We know these fellas aren't fraught with debt problems like the latest graduate school class. But there are similar pitfalls they share with other guys in their mid-20s. I mean we all have relationship issues, right Sergio?

And in light of the recent difficulties this demographic is having breaking into the winner's circle, I'd like to offer some advice. If you're planning to become a crazy little league parent and push your child into a sport with hopes of cashing in yourself, I'd pick something other than golf. Your prodigy may not reach his/her prime until you're neatly tucked away in a lovely retirement facility. Michelle Wie there may be hope for you yet. Once Wie notches that first victory in 2030 the LPGA Tour had better watch out.

As for the likes of Scott, Garcia, Kim and Villegas, time is of the essence, unless you're waiting patiently to enter your prime a decade or so from now. If the 20-Somethings don't step it up soon, 2009 will go down in history as the year Dads dominated the PGA Tour.

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