In
the last few years Europe and South Africa have changed the landscape
of tournament golf, winning a combined 12 of the last 22 Major
championships compared to 8 for the United States and 7 of the last
14 World Golf Championships compared to 6 for the United States. You
might be thinking that the United States is one country and Europe is
a continent in addition to the biggest country in Africa but there
are more golfers and more golf courses in the United States than
Europe and South Africa combined. Coupled with their recent record in
the Ryder Cup and the European dominance of the PGA Tour Money List
and the World Number One spot and the word crisis was being used in
association with American golf. It reached an all-time low last
September with the Miracle at Medinah (see Golf's Greatest Day) when
the new, young generation of American golfers guided by the legends
of the modern era contrived to lose a 10-6 lead on the final day to a
resurgent Europe. The expression of utter disappointment was written
across their faces and the impact last for quite some time with the
likes of Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and Jason Dufner.
20
years after the United States' last Ryder Cup on European soil it
seems the disappointments of 2012 and the time that American golfers
have spent in the shadow of Europe and South Africa's best has
motivated the new, young generation of golfers in the USA to take the
bull by the horns and go for it, resulting in near total domination
of the 2013 PGA Tour season so far. Tiger Woods win at the
WGC-Cadillac Championship was the 11th out of 11 American
wins so far, the best run for over 20 years for American golfers on
the PGA Tour. And this week at Innisbrook the next generation of
American golfers are taking the Tampa Bay Championship by the scruff
of the neck, with Shawn Stefani (32) leading at -6, followed by Brian
Harman (26) in second on -4, Tag Ridings (38), Brendan Steele (29)
and Harris English (23) all tied at -3.
An
argument can be made that American golfers are still very much at
home, at home. They don't travel globally and compete with a variety
of golfers from all countries on a variety of golf courses in
different conditions, and because of this a generation of one
dimensional golfers were developed in the United States. But when
professional golf in the United States is so financially lucrative,
even at the secondary and tertiary levels, it is very difficult to
convince young American golfers to travel the world and see what the
rest of us in Europe and Africa know; there are thousands of young
talented golfers coming through every bit as good as those in the
United States, but the Americans get the opportunities and the
golfers from Europe and South Africa have to travel the world to
develop rather than sitting at home.
The
leading 7 in Tampa Bay may well be Americans, but the next 20 players
on the leaderboard include 9 foreign born players including the
defending champion Luke Donald, all of them are hungry to end the
early domination of the hosts on the PGA Tour.
Live
coverage of the second round begins at 7pm GMT on Sky Sports 3 in the
UK and 3pm ET on Golf Channel in the United States.
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