Jim McCabe

When June 11 came and went last summer, so, too, did a small footnote to the PGA Tour landscape disappear. On that day, Geoff Ogilvy turned 30, meaning there is now no one in the men’s game in his 20s who owns a major championship.

Perhaps it’s not a significant notation, but then again, it’s one way of examining an intriguing slice of the PGA Tour world — the under-30 crowd.

It’s a supremely talented bunch, no doubt, but you could find a lot of observers who’d question whether they’ve got what it takes to become future major champions. Now that Ogilvy (13^th in the world rankings), Luke Donald (18^th), Paul Casey (23rd), and Jonathan Byrd (67^th) have turned 30, here is one man’s opinion as to the best 10 players in their 20s who play the PGA Tour regularly:

Justin Rose (6^th), Adam Scott (8^th), Sergio Garcia (12^th), Aaron Baddeley (17^th), Trevor Immelman (19^th), Hunter Mahan (33rd), Charles Howell (41^st), Brandt Snedeker (49^th), Scott O’Hair (69^th), and Lucas Glover (82nd).

Combined, those players have 21 PGA Tour wins — though Scott (six) and Garcia (five) — have half of that total. (Before you research the media guide and scream that Scott only has five wins, take note that I give him credit for the 2005 Nissan Open, even if the PGA Tour doesn’t. They gave him a winner’s check, didn’t they? That means he won, and I don’t care if they did call the thing off after 36 holes.)

While it’s a bit disconcerting that none of those 10 names owns a major title, it’s downright troublesome that only five of them posted victories in 2007. Garcia, Immelman, O’Hair, Rose, and Glover all came up empty, and it’s a sign of some seriously confounding math that a guy (Rose) can roar up to No. 6 in the world with never having won a PGA Tour event.

Yes, Rose posted a second, a third, and five other Top 10s in just 16 starts, but there’s a school of thought out there that suggests players can pile up world ranking points and buckets filled with cash all without establishing a winning game and it’s hard to argue against that.

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The thing is, winning is tougher than ever on the PGA Tour — because of the wealth of talent, yes, but also because Tiger Woods annually stakes claim to a half-dozen to nine victories, which leaves less for everyone else. Woods has single-handedly altered the field of competition to the point that he wins seven times in 16 starts and feels he could have done more, while five standouts in their 20s — Scott, Howell, Mahan, Baddeley, and Snedeker — combined for five and they came away satisfied.

Then again, maybe they’re burning inside to step up to the next level and join major winners such as Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, and Vijay Singh.

Maybe they just need a little bit of time, in which case they’re in luck, because they’re still in their 20s.

Ah, youth. It’s such a great complement to go with great talent.

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