Stricker claims top-rated American golfer spot and what it means for the state of golf in America

For the past decade, the face of American golf has looked the same. The steely-eyed glare of Tiger Woods possessed combined with the sly grin of Phil Mickelson was enough to steal all the attention. But with Woods having imploded and Mickelson unable to establish control on a regular basis, there really is no clear-cut top U.S. golfer at the moment.

Experts have been saying for years the future looks ‘bright’ for American golf, yet it is the young international golfers who are gobbling up major victories regularly, leaving us to wonder: What really is the state of American golf and why is Europe dominating the rankings?

Steve Stricker’s victory at the Memorial Tournament has made him the fourth ranked player in the World Golf Rankings, good enough to make him the highest ranked American golfer. Though Stricker is not the most accomplished golfer in the rankings by any standard, nor is he the flashiest, the fact remains that he has earned the title through his performances the past several years.

Stricker is one of four Americans currently residing in the top ten. He is 0.49 points ahead of Mickelson, who won the Shell Houston Open in April and 0.97 points ahead of Matt Kuchar, who finished as a runner-up in Accenture Match Play Championship. Dustin Johnson rounds out the group at number nine. I’m left wondering if the rankings really tell the truth. It’s hard to imagine Steve Stricker is the best golfer in America, but does it show how even the playing field is amongst American golfers today -- a distant thought years ago when Tiger and Phil consistently dominated in both the World Golf Rankings and major championships.

The World Rankings do a good job of identifying who is playing the most consistent golf over the two-year period used in the ranking, but there are other factors these ranking do not account for which will influence the future of the game.

Chief among those is the enormous potential that comes with inconsistent youth, which the rankings do not accurately project. In recent years we have seen a huge wave of young international golfers such as Ryo Ishikawa, who has already won a number of tournaments in Asia and is still 19. Then there is Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy who is ranked sixth in the world and climbing. He lost a big 54-hole lead at Augusta, but at 22, his future looks extremely bright.

Add in 24 year old Australian Jason Day and you have a pretty talented group of international golfers who also seem ready to turn the corner and challenge the ‘young gun’ Americans for golfing supremacy.

Golfers such as Johnson, who has won four times in his career and held the 54-hole lead at last year's U.S. Open and PGA Championship, the long hitting Bubba Watson and the 22-year old charismatic Rickie Fowler are just a few of the growing pool of talented young golfers who give us Yanks hope that a new superstar will emerge and restore America’s presence at the top of the rankings. Add this group of youngsters to the duo of Woods and Mickelson who still have a number of potentially great years left being only 35 and 41 years old respectively, and American golfers will have plenty of opportunities to reassume their perch very soon.

The fact is American golf is still loaded with a group of young and talented golfers, though they have showed their youth through their inconsistent play. While it may seem like the American golf talent level has fallen behind European countries due to the recent victories, we need to remember that it takes time to ‘turn the corner’ to greatness, and if the Europeans young guns can do it, why can’t we?