Young guns making a mark

By Mark Garrod, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent Last updated: 27th October 2009

Nothing in golf this year will beat a 59-year-old man - Tom Watson, of course - standing over a nine-foot putt to win The Open.

Even if he did miss it and then lose the play-off.

But it has been a pretty amazing season as well for the sport's young guns and the stories just keep on coming.

The climax to the latest US Tour event in Arizona saw 20-year-old Rickie Fowler - Rick Yutaka Fowler to give him his full name - and 21-year-old Jamie Lovemark both close with 64s to get into a play-off.

Fowler was playing just his second event on the circuit as a professional and Lovemark his fourth, and although the experienced Troy Matteson got the better of them with a birdie at the second extra hole, they had made their mark.

As did 20-year-old Sam Hutsby in Europe's Castello Masters. Holing his second shot to the opening hole of the final round put the Hampshire youngster in a tie for the lead.

While his eventual eighth place was not what he was looking for at that time, the British Amateur runner-up had surely done enough to ensure he will not be called "Simon" on television any more - as was the case on more than one occasion last week.

It was only the third Tour event Hutsby had played since leaving the unpaid ranks and, like Fowler, his switch came after last month's Walker Cup.

They actually faced each other in the first-day singles at Merion and Fowler did a 7&6 demolition job en route to winning all his four games, but to his credit Hutsby came out the following day and was successful in both his games, albeit in a well-beaten Britain and Ireland team.

"It's been an incredible week to remember but a lack of experience kicked in," said Hutsby of his final round in Spain.

"Course management let me down a bit, but I was grinding so hard and top 10 was what I wanted to achieve here.

"It's massive for me and has kick-started my pro career. I'm going to Singapore now with a smile on my face and whatever happens happens.

"Qualifying school is still in the diary. I was trying to eliminate it, but that was a big ask."

Lovemark and Fowler were both on the victorious American side at Royal County Down two years ago, the former winning all his three matches and Fowler taking three points out of four - including a foursomes win over Rory McIlroy.

Fowler's pro debut on the PGA Tour the previous week saw him finish seventh and so in two starts he has already earned over half a million dollars.

That is not quite enough yet to make him exempt for next season, but he still has time to avoid the qualifying school.

"I knew I was capable of coming out and competing," he said. "But to finish tied for seventh and then tied for first... pretty quick start."

Lovemark, even with more than USD450,000 to his name now, was still not exempt from the first stage of Tour school taking place this week.

Fowler had a hole-in-one in the final round, but the shot for which Lovemark will most be remembered was something totally different.

His approach to the first play-off hole went into the lake, but the ball then hopped out again onto the bank, from where he saved par.

McIlroy remains the rising star who has made the biggest impact this year. Victory in the Dubai Desert Classic propelled him into the world's top 20, he is still there and he could yet be the youngest winner of the European money list title.

Amateur Danny Lee became the youngest ever champion on the Tour, fellow 18-year-old Ryo Ishikawa is Japan's biggest attraction and the current world number 36 and the British and American amateur championships produced their youngest-ever winners.

Italian Matteo Manassero, who a month after his victory at Formby finished 13th in The Open, will still be only 16 when he plays in The Masters next April, while Korean An Byeong-hun was 17 when he won the US Amateur.

He will be at Augusta as well, and there might even be a 15-year-old playing too.

That is because a place in the opening major of 2010 is on offer in this week's inaugural Asian amateur stroke play championship at China's Mission Hills and the field includes Hong Kong's Jason Hak, who aged 14 last December took over from Sergio Garcia as the youngest player ever to make the cut in a European Tour event.

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How's this for a five-week schedule? San Francisco first, on to Portugal, Malaysia after that, then Spain, then China.

Surely only a young player would contemplate such globe-trotting towards the end of a busy season?

Wrong, 40-year-old Retief Goosen is putting himself through the marathon.

He was in America for the Presidents Cup, came sixth in the Portugal Masters and on Sunday was third in his defence of the Johor Open in Asia.

Now it's back to Europe for the Volvo World Match Play and next week he will be in Shanghai for the HSBC Champions.

Mark Garrod, Press Association Sport Golf Correspondent