As the dust settles on Justin Thomas’ gripping victory at the 104th PGA Championship from Southern Hills Country Club, one thing is for certain – golf is an old man’s game no more.
The 2022 PGA will largely be remembered for Thomas’ record-equalling seven stroke comeback and the epic three-hole playoff that ensued. Claiming his second PGA Championship, adding to his win at Quail Hollow in 2017, Justin has been a star for the best part of a decade on the PGA Tour with 15 wins – making him somewhat of a veteran around these circles. And that leads to what is an intriguing larger takeaway from a captivating four days from Southern Hills Country Club.
The final grouping on Sunday featured two 27 year olds – Chilean Mito Pereira, aiming to go where none of his countrymen had gone before, and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, searching for a maiden win on U.S soil to accompany his seven in Europe. Making aggressive moves up the leaderboard in the penultimate tee off pairing were two young guns aged 25 – Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young. Both coincidentally Wake Forest alumni. The former fell agonisingly short of victory in the playoff with Thomas.
Ultimately, the 29 year old ‘veteran’ had the last laugh.
Embed from Getty ImagesRewind even just a couple of decades and sustained success only happened to professional golfers in their 30s – unless your surname was Nicklaus. Now though, it’s symbolic of a trend that’s been developing since Tiger Woods burst onto the scene with his record-breaking win at the 1997 Masters as a 21 year old. Woods’ unrivalled ability to overpower courses and mentally disintegrate his opponents from such a young age has inspired an entire generation of golfers, setting a tone that emerging players could block out the ‘do your time’ sentiment.
In the 23-year period stretching either side of Tiger’s famous win, up to the end of 2010, only 27% of Major Championship victories were recorded by golfers younger than 30. Since then, as the Tiger-inspired generation comes of age, that number has more than doubled to 58%. This dominance is also reflected in the world rankings where seven of the top 11 are aged in their 20’s, emphasised perfectly at the PGA this week. The final five in the mix for the PGA Championship glory were all 20-something.
What Tiger did for the current crop of breakouts continues to effect change and growth for the game. He’s helped break down age and race barriers, allowing golfers to present as more relatable. Players are more marketable now, in a world where social media rules and the youth dominate. It has given the sport more of a chance to expand, meaning there’s no coincidence golfers from Italy, Austria, Norway, Japan, Chile and Venezuela have all recorded breakthrough wins for their nation either at Majors or on the PGA Tour since 2011.
Holistically, golf has never been stronger and the current crop will no doubt continue to inspire people of all ages and types the world-over. Youth isn’t yet a prerequisite for Tour glory, like it is in other more high-impact sports, but this trend certainly isn’t hurting the game’s longevity.
