Is it the end of American dominance in golf?
Although the American players, critics and spectators present at the Augusta National at this year’s Masters, did a good job to maintain sobriety as they lined up to watch Phil Mickelson present Charl Schwartzle with the green jacket, deep somewhere inside
they knew that the last Major title is leaving the country. It is a sad moment for American golf which overshadowed the sport for almost a century.
The country not only produced some of the best players but also took the sport to altogether a new level, increasing the popularity and commercial value. The legends like Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods who unilaterally dominated the sport are
nowhere to be seen.
Three of the top players in the world are now from United Kingdom, the arch rival of US golf. But that’s not all. Four out of the top five, 16 out of the top 25, and no less than 32 players of the top 50 are non-Americans.
Mickelson has done well to lift the title in the Shell Houston Open earlier this year but he alone cannot contain the English rampage. The US probably relied too much on its lone super star Woods and with his downfall, things have gone wayward and damage
control is more difficult than it was ever anticipated.
Woods is without a win for many months now. He last won his PGA Tour in September 2009 and hasn’t won a Major since June 2008. As the Chairman of the International Sports management Chubby Chandler rightly says, "There needed to be life after Tiger -- and
I'm not saying that Tiger's finished, But there needs to be a continuation of what goes on in golf. And if that's a different continuation, then good."
As the rule goes, consistency always lasts longer while prodigies and flare are short lived. Lee Westwood is nowhere close to Woods in natural talent and technique but he is more consistent. Same goes for Luke Donald who after winning at the WGC Accenture
Match Play Championship, came close to winning The Heritage but bogeyed the third play-off hole. At the Masters this year, if it hadn’t been Schwartzle, it probably would have been the young Jason Day or it could have been Rory Mcilroy if he hadn’t have given
into the extreme pressure of the final day.
The US Open defending champion is the Irishman Graeme McDowell. The PGA defending champion is German Martin Kaymer. The defending British Open Champion is Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa. Next month’s Players Championship has another South African defending
champion, Tim Clark.
And this is not the end of the list.
Three of the last four Masters winners were not Americans. Out of last seven US Open winners, five are non-Americans. Out of last four Open Championship winners, three are non-Americans. Last three PGA Championship winners are also not Americans. As far
as the coveted Ryders Cup is concerned, it’s not the first time the British have snatched it from the Americans. Four out of the last five and six out of the last eight Ryders Cups were won by the British teams.
The younger generations of American players, who constantly show up in the fields of high profile championships, have yet to win a Major. Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, Hunter Mahan, Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim and Gary Woodland might have earned
their celebrity status after a few wins, but they have yet to win a Major like Germany’s Kaymer and South African Oosthuizen.
Chandler went over to say, "You've got an absolutely brand new era here.”
After more than 100 years of dominance in the sport by the Englishman and Americans, it can be safely assumed that golf has finally evolved into an International sport.
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