Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, and Rickie Fowler begin 2016 with many similarities. These four players are all under 30 and blazing a bright future for the sport of golf and the PGA TOUR. The “Big 3” is quickly turning into a “Big 4,” with Rickie Fowler inching ever closer to his first Major Championship.
Rickie has had a lot of success over the past couple of years, particularly after working with Butch Harmon. He had his first multiple win season during 2014-15, winning THE PLAYERS Championship, the AAM Scottish Open and the Deutsche Bank Championship. He continued that success in Abu Dhabi where he won the 2016 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.
Rory McIlroy might have the most beautiful swing in golf. Although he missed most of the season in 2015 due to an ankle injury, his game is definitely coming around to the level where we saw it at the beginning of the 2014-15 season. Before his injury, we saw him win the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship and the Wells Fargo Championship. Who knows how the year would have turned out if Rory didn’t get injured – you can bet that he’ll be working hard in the gym and on the course to regain that World Number 1 ranking.
Jason Day has been on the brink of greatness for the past few years. In 2015, he finally broke through for his first Major Championship victory at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. That was only one of his five victories on the season though – he also captured victories at the Farmers Insurance Open, the RBC Canadian Open, the Barclays and the BMW Championship. With Jason finally breaking through, who knows how many more Majors he will win.
Lastly, Jordan Spieth, a golfer that needs no introduction. He won two Major Championships in a row in 2015 (The Masters, US Open) and was in contention for the other two. In addition to the Majors, Jordan also won the Valspar Championship, the John Deere Classic and the TOUR Championship (and overall FedEx Cup) for a total of five victories in 2015. He continued this success into 2016 at the first tournament of the calendar year, the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and was also in contention recently in Abu Dhabi and Singapore.
With so many young players ready to win, particularly these four, the sport of golf has never seemed to be in a better state as it gets ready for a post-Tiger era. It will be very fun to watch these four young golfers compete over the next decade and see the battles that they will go through together. What are you thoughts on this “Big 4” and who do you think will end up with the best career when all is said and done?
Source: PGA TOUR
