Brittany Lang may have scored a win for the older generation at the US Women's Open but it's the young guns who are leading the way on tour.
Brittany Lang may have scored a win for the older generation when the thirty-year old claimed victory yesterday at the US Women’s Open but her victory goes against the grain in a year when the average winner on the LPGA Tour is no more than 22.
Indeed when the headline group teed off on Thursday at Cordevalle you’d be mistaken for thinking you’d accidently tuned in to the junior version of the event. Two of the players, Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson, had yet to exit their teens, whilst the third, Lexi Thompson, is a relative veteran at the still tender age of 21. Brittany Lang and 38-year-old playing partner, Angela Stanford, who a decade ago would have been considered in the prime of their careers, appeared mere relics in comparison (although their golf proved otherwise!)
The demographic of the game’s tours has been fundamentally altered in the past few years by a wave of incredibly talented teenagers, headed by New Zealander Ko, who have not only matched the skill of their older peers but raised it to a whole new level.
Having risen to world number one at the age of seventeen, Ko’s dominance now looks challenged by 18-year-old Brooke Henderson, who, having already reached the number two spot in the world rankings, earned her first major title last month at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, defeating Ko in a thrilling play-off.
Then there is Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn who, at the age of twenty, recently went on a three tournament winning streak, not to mention Lexi Thompson, who, despite being in her sixth year on tour and notching up seven tournament victories, is still not old enough to have graduated from university. That’s without mentioning the wave of Korean players who have asserted their dominance of the LPGA tour despite most still being in their early twenties.
When Korean In Gee Chun won last year’s US Open at the age of twenty she was yet to even earn her LPGA Tour card, demonstrating the depth of young talent coming from the Asian country.
Their success doesn’t seem to be the exception either. The age of those winning LPGA titles has been steadily decreasing for the last decade.
Ten years ago the average age for whose in the winning circle was 28.2, five years ago it was 26.1. For the first 14 events this season it has been 21.1.
A decade ago, most of the top players were heading to college in the states before making the switch to the professional ranks, nowadays most of the world’s best are utilising top-notch golf academies to hone their game before transitioning straight onto the tour.
Arguments that these girls need more time to develop their games has been blown away by this crop of youngsters who come out onto tour in their first season prepared and expected to win.
In any other generation England’s Charley Hull, at twenty, would be a mere yearling, her ability to rise into the world’s top thirty whilst still in her teenager years, a remarkable feat. In the current climate, it feels like she has some catching up to do in order to match the achievements of her rivals.
She will be hoping to rectify this and earn her first major title when the Ricoh Women’s British Open gets underway at the end of this month over her home course, Woburn Golf Club, although she will have to defeat the likes of Ko if she is to do so.
The most impressive thing about these players may well not be their age but the maturity with which they conduct themselves both on and off the course. Both Ko and Henderson act with a poise and class way beyond their years, although Hull offered a refreshing youthfulness early this season when she admitted to taking a few weeks off in order to head to the party island, Ibiza.
Why the world’s top female players are getting younger is debatable. Technological progression in equipment and advancements in nutrition and coaching have sped the process of achievement, but cannot alone explain the phenomena.
Whether they can maintain their high level over a sustained period of time will be another matter. These players have seen from Michelle Wie’s rollercoaster career that achievement at a young age does not always guarantee success.
Nonetheless with so many young talents coming through the ranks, the problem for the current stars may well not be sustaining their high standards but ensuring they continue to improve in order to match the ever improving standards of the next group of youngsters.
Females Set On Olympic Dream Despite Pace Withdrawal. Read More
