Phenom Update

With all due respect to El Pato, I'd like to take the focus away from the US Open for a moment.

If you haven't noticed, there are some very young players making bold statements in the world of professional golf. Two of them played in the US Open, and one was in the Nationwide event held over the weekend. They are all age 22 or under, so it would be safe to call them phenoms. They are Anthony Kim, Pablo Martin, and Jaime Lovemark.

I mentioned Lovemark in my June 14th post. You may not have heard, but he lost a playoff on Sunday to Chris Riley (the Chris Riley of Ryder Cup infamy) at the Rochester Area Charities Showdown after shooting a 65 in the final round. The NCAA individual champion looks like he's ready to step up to the next level -- and he just finished his FRESHMAN year at Southern Cal. If the trajectory of his game continues, he'll be one of the hottest tickets in golf by 2009. Mark my words.

Pablo Martin is a much-heralded Spanish golfer who just left Oklahoma State to turn pro. He turned 21 two months ago, and a couple of weeks shy of his birthday, Martin (pronounced mar-TEEN) became the first amateur ever to win on the European Tour. I think that his victory is the most overlooked golf story of the year. I'm sure many of you didn't even know it happened. Then, almost immediately after finishing school, he qualified for the US Open and finished in a tie for 30th. He was right in the thick of it before shooting 77 on Saturday. That's pretty stellar playing for a guy who was in college a month ago. In fact, I have a feeling that he will fulfill the promise that Sergio Garcia has not yet reached. I've watched him play, and he has major game, a fearless attitude, and lots of maturity.

Today is Anthony Kim's 22nd birthday, and he is the one with whom you should be familiar. He left Oklahoma after his junior year (he didn't get along with the coach), and in his first PGA event last, he tied for 2nd. Since then, he has backed it up by nabbing nine top 25s and four top 10s in eighteen events. And, his 67 on Sunday at Oakmont was the second best round of the tournament, and the best in the final round by two strokes. In nine months on Tour, he has zoomed from no status to number 66 in the world. He is now ranked 44th in the President's Cup rankings, and if I were Jack Nicklaus, I'd pick him as a wild card. Kim is a fiery personality who isn't afraid to speak his mind. Thankfully for him, his golf has been doing most of the talking lately.

Sometimes phenoms don't pan out. There is a new set of "young guns" just about every year who are touted as the guys who will take down Tiger. These three may not ever break Tiger's records, but they will be giving him a run for the money in the years to come. I can guarantee it.