Veteran players still rule the game of golf
Right after Tiger Woods faced injury issues and the s*x scandal in 2009, many young players emerged on the golfing scene and moved forward to take control of the game.
There came a time when there was an influx of young talented players, who started taking top spots in each of the tournaments they played.
Rory McIlroy became the youngest world number one player in the history of the sport after Woods, thanks to his victory in the Honda Classic this year. Meanwhile, Japanese Ryo Ishikawa emerged as one of the best players the Asian continent has ever produced.
He won 10 professional events in a four-year stretch starting from 2007. Moreover, he became the youngest player ever in the history of the game to make it to the top-100 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
John Huh, at the age of 22, won the 2012 Mayakoba Golf Classic as his first PGA Tour victory.
Apart from the abovementioned players, there are many other young guns who are proving themselves in different parts of the world with a perfect display of the game.
However, there is only one problem with all the young guns, lack of consistency. For the last few months, the PGA as well as the European Tour has witnessed veteran players win most of the tournaments.
Steve Stricker, aged 45, won the PGA Tour season opening tournament, Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Right after two weeks, Mark Wilson (37) won the Humana Challenge.
Kyle Stanley, John Huh, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Marc Leishman, Ted Potter Jr. and Scott Stallings have altogether won seven out of 32 PGA Tour events that have been held so far during the 2012 golf season.
Among them, Leishman is the eldest, being 28 years of age. On the other hand, 25 events have been won by players aged 30 and above, in the past seven months on the PGA Tour.
Similar is the situation on the European Tour where the experienced players are dominating the new entrants of the game.
Keeping in view the Official World Golf Rankings, Rory McIlroy is currently the only player aged below 30, as he made it to the top-15. All the other positions are held by the players who have spent several years playing professional golf.
Tiger Woods is one of the most experienced players and has once again started threatening his opponents in each of the fields he enters in.
Almost seven months ago, he was nowhere near to winning a single tournament. Now, he has three PGA Tour victories registered to his name in the 2012 PGA Tour season — the most recorded by any player this year.
When McIlroy started the 2012 golf season, the golf commentators started believing that he will be the next Tiger Woods.
However, Woods proved that no one can take his place until he himself hands over the crown of being the best player in the world to someone else.
Recently, he has made a strong surge in the OWGR and has replaced McIlroy at the second position. Currently, he is eyeing the number one spot that he lost to Lee Westwood in 2010.
If we talk about the major championships, they are also being dominated by the veterans, as more than 95% players in the top-20 were aged 30 and over.
Therefore, it will be wrong to say that the young guns have taken control over the sport, as one can still expect great performances from the old players.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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