Youngster have heyday on PGA Tour this year

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By Craig DeVrieze | Sunday, July 13, 2008 |

J.B. Holmes has two PGA Tour victories and is one of the nine 20-somethings to have a victory on Tour this season. Buy this Photo

When Jonathan Byrd scored his third career victory at last year’s John Deere Classic, he became the only American golfer under the age of 30 with three career wins to his credit.

Byrd no longer can claim that distinction.

That’s not because another 20-something has passed him. It is because Byrd is 30.

Still, 20-somethings increasingly are making noise on the PGA Tour, many of them with passports that sport the stars and stripes.

Nine players under 30 have scored wins in the first 28 events of the 2008 PGA Tour campaign, a total that already exceeds last year’s year-long total of eight.

Of the nine, five — D.J. Trahan, J.B. Holmes, Sean O’Hair, Johnson Wagner and Anthony Kim — are Americans. All but Kim will be at TPC Deere Run for next week’s JDC.

Trahan, Holmes and 2005 JDC champ O’Hair also collected their second career Tour wins. That is a 20-something distinction that, in advance of last year’s JDC, only Byrd and Charles Howell III could claim.

“I think some of the other guys are gaining confidence,’’ Byrd recently said. “I think that is a trend that is going to continue to improve. I think you are going to continue to see young guys play well and win tournaments.’’

Holmes, a 26-year-old long-hitting Kentuckian in his third year on Tour, won the FBR Open in Phoenix for the second time in three years on Super Sunday.

He doesn’t quite understand why people are surprised by the young guns’ success.

“I think we are just going out and playing golf,’’ he said. “Everybody realizes we are talented enough to win out here, and we’re coming out and doing it.’’

This year in droves.

In a seven-week stretch of April and May, six players under 30 won tourneys.

It is not a brand-new trend, but it is trending upward.

Time was, after all, it took a few years just for players fresh out of college to play their way onto Tour.

Woody Austin was the Rookie of the Year in 1995. He was 31 and had won his way onto Tour by winning a December qualifying tournament after seven previous failed attempts.

Austin points to the growth of the Nationwide Tour, the world’s third-best, as a cause, but that doesn’t explain Holmes, who won his first FBR less than a year after turning professional.

He also won the 2006 qualifying tournament to become the first straight-from-college winner since Willie Wood in 1983. Holmes was one of five first-time Q-School entries to claim a card that year.

He says he was an exception, however.

“It’s hard to get out on Tour,’’ Holmes said. “And it’s hard to stay out there. You just have to play good when you get your opportunities.’’

More and more, the young guns are doing just that.

“Those 20-somethings, they’re pretty hot right now,’’ noted Zach Johnson, who trolled golf’s minor leagues for six years before breaking through via the Nationwide Tour in 2004. “And I don’t think that’s any surprise. I think the kids coming out of college are a little bit more prepared.’’

Actually, they are more prepared coming out of high school, Johnson said, noting he was a multi-sport athlete growing up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“A lot of these kids that are making a dent out here on Tour early, they eat, drink and bleed golf,’’ he said, pointing to the growth of junior golf tours and youth instruction. “The knowledge of the game certainly has gotten more deep. So they know what do.’’

Last year’s eight 20-something victories matched the previous year’s total. The totals for the decade before that are skewed because Tiger Woods, author of 65 Tour wins at age 32, was in his 20s.

But even pre-Tiger, players were coming out ready to win. In 1995, the year before Woods hit the scene, six 20-somethings scored eight wins between them.

Holmes said the new Tour-ready youngsters are not yet a reflection of Woods attracting young talent to the game.

“When I grew up, my favorite player was Jack Nicklaus,’’ he said. “I think there are more people playing now because of (Woods). But I don’t know if you really have seen people come up (on Tour) because they saw Tiger and that’s when they started playing.’’

What’s more, Johnson doubts the “next” Woods is anywhere on the horizon.

“I don’t foresee there being another Tiger for a long time,’’ he said.

Right now, and for the rest of the year, of course, Woods is out of commission. That’s an open invitation for more 20-somethings to show their stuff, said Moline’s Tony Navarro, who caddies for one of the most promising of those in Aussie Adam Scott.

“All these 20-something guys are pretty sporty guys, pretty fun for the sport,’’ he said. “I think they can create excitement and I look forward to it. There are a lot of good things happening out there.’’

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.