Golf's Young and the Restless

FINALLY. Finally. Finally. The youth of golf have a victory meaningful enough to celebrate. Rory Mcilroy's final round 62 at the Quail Hollow Championships among a class field has propelled the now 21 year old kid into the stratosphere of sporting stardom. And it is a surprise it has taken him this long.

Last week ESPN published the 'Top 25 Golfers Under 25' in the wake of Mcilroy's barnstorming first win on the PGA Tour. Along with Anthony Kim they formed the Top 2 in the world - an accurate summation. With Phil Mickelson they are the most exiciting golfers in the world right now. Kim's final round at the Masters was a pleasure to watch as he took apart the Augusta back nine. But it is Mcilroy's attitude that makes him standout. After making the cut on the nose mid-tournament, he spoke of having nothing to lose. So he went out on the final day and carded 10 under par on a course considered good enough for major golf. As you do.

It is perfect timing for the PGA Tour. Tiger just committed a dramatic self-destruction on par with any in the history of sport, and the tour was in desperate need of some fresh talent, because lets face it, no one really good and really young has made a big name for themselves on the tour since Tiger did in 1996. Enter Anthony Kim, 24, and Rory Mcilroy, 21. One from the United States. One from Europe. Both exceptionally good.

If these two are this good this young, I just hope they are quicker to stamp their name on major golf than Phil Mickelson was. At least he is dominating now. Two other former young guns yet to do so are Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia. They seem to be struggling at the moment and we hope they can bounce back emphatically. Lucky for us Kim and Mcilroy look to have a better attitude to their early success.

With all that said, so many have risen and fallen early in their career that we should be careful to raise our hopes too high for these young stars. Rather we'll just keep our fingers crossed that they can sustain their current level of competitiveness for our viewing pleasure.