Amateurs Harris English and John Peterson lash out at top PGA players
Top amateur players, who made it big at last week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational, Harris English and John Peterson have come out lashing at the regular tour field of the PGA Tour, saying that they have the ability to out-swing any of the Top
20 to 30 players, if provided a chance.
Peterson initially came out with his not-so-logical statement and tried to justify his comments, correlating the recent performance of top ranking players on the tour.
“The top guys in college, the top 20 or 30 guys, can beat the top 20, 30 guys on the PGA Tour,” Peterson said. “Maybe with the exception of two or three guys who are constantly up there, like a Matt Kuchar or Luke Donald, those guys that are always there.”
The remarks of last week’s runner-up at Nationwide will surely attract bulk of criticism as the duo have barely picked up their first professional win and perhaps it’s too early to utter big words before formally stepping into the “real world”. English,
who won the event to become the third amateur ever to win on Nationwide Tour, agreed with his teammate and LSU golfer Peterson.
“I definitely agree with that,” English said. “You look at what happened here, you look at what guys are doing this week in Canada … at the U.S. Open there are always a couple of amateurs playing well.”
The tour has been witnessing a recent surge of new budding players and no fewer than five PGA Tour events in the season have been won by a rookie. English won his maiden title on Nationwide when he overtook Kyle Reifers, the more established player on Nationwide
circuit as well as Peterson who later shared the runner-up spot with Reifers.
Many golf critics would agree that confidence constitutes an essential part necessary to bring up a professional golfer alongside the expertise and natural talent for the sport, but many would also agree that it was perhaps a little too early for the LSU
Bulldogs to flatter themselves before a high profile professional success.
There have been many players in the course of history who had started off with a blistering career only to fall behind in the ranks later on. Rickie Fowler and Ryo Ishikawa are two such examples, who barged into the world of professional golf gate crashing
into the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) but slumped to obscurity in their misadventures later on.
Nevertheless, English and Peterson are among the group of new generation of amateur players who have given a new hope to American golf. Supported by their compatriots Peter Uihlein, Patrick Cantlay and Bud Cauley among many others, the duo will be heading
straight into the professional circuit to open up their career cards.
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