Last year we saw the emergence of several great young players on the PGA and European Tours. Russell Henley won his first start on tour in the Sony Open in Hawaii. Patrick Cantlay won on the Web.com Tour before developing a bad back. Peter Uihlein won in Europe and has moved up to No. 65 in the world.
Jordan Spieth made the most noise from a bumper crop of rookies in 2013 and no one had a better season.
Spieth hit the mother-lode last season. He earned PGA Tour membership, a two-year exemption for his win at the John Deere Classic and a spot on the 2013 Presidents Cup team. He finished No. 8 in the FedEx Cup race with $3.8 million in total earnings and was named PGA Tour Rookie of the Year.
Is there a rookie lurking in the 2014 class that can match Spieth’s amazing accomplishments of last year?
Chesson Hadley was one of the most consistent players on the Web.com Tour last year. He won two events, including the Web.com Tour Championship. He also had one runner-up and two thirds in his eight top-10 finishes for the year.
He earned a total of $535,000 and finished at No. 3 on the Web.com Tour’s final standings.
Hadley is only 26-years-old and already has one top-10 finish in four starts on the 2014 PGA Tour wrap-around schedule.
After turning professional in 2012, Brooks Koepka won the 2012 Challenge de Catalunya on the Challenge Tour. He added three more wins on the Challenge Tour in 2013 and earned a promotion to the European Tour.
He made 10 cuts in 12 starts on the 2013 European Tour, earned €217,000 and finished No. 113 in the Race to Dubai.
Trying to make it onto the 2014 PGA Tour, he played in the Frys.com Open and led both the second and third rounds before a final round one-over par 73 dropped him to T-3.
Ranked No. 93 in the world, he will start the year on the European Tour, but don’t be surprised if he makes it onto the PGA Tour in 2014.
Hideki Matsuyama was a member of the International Presidents Cup team and played in several tournaments on the PGA Tour in 2013, but technically will be a rookie this year.
Matsuyama first gained prominence, when he finished T-10 at the U.S. Open at Merion and then followed that with a T-6 at Muirfield in the Open Championship. He added a T-19 in the PGA Championship in August.
Matsuyama won four tournaments on the Japan PGA Tour in 2013 and was the leading money winner on that tour last season.
He brings a lot of game and a ton of confidence to the PGA Tour and could be a stand-out performer.
These are just three names of the talented young players that are trying to make it to the top of the golf world.
It will be interesting to watch them next season.