The future of golf never looked stronger than when two young players on different continents won tournaments that had their colleagues raving days later.
Rory McIlroy shot a 62 at the Quail Hollow Championship to break the course record by two shots on the U.S. PGA Tour on Sunday. Hours earlier, Ryo Ishikawa shot a 58 to break the record of any course on a major tour and win The Crowns on the Japan Tour.
McIlroy turned 21 on Tuesday. Ishikawa, 18, graduated from high school two months ago. And to keep with the timing, teenager Matteo Manassero is making his professional debut this week in the Italian Open. He made the cut at the Masters.
Adam Scott wasn't sure which amazed him more.
``I wouldn't have broken 90 at Augusta when I was 16,'' he said of Manessero, who turned 17 right after the Masters. ``I'm not just saying that as a throwaway line. I mean that. I wasn't anywhere near that level at his age.''
Scott wasn't too shabby, however. He turned pro when he was 20 and earned his European Tour card in eight starts. Over the next decade, he reached as high as No. 3 in the world and has won 15 times around the world, one of those The Players Championship when he became its youngest champion in 2004 at age 23.
Scott was born the same year as Sergio Garcia, who reached No. 2 in the world and counts The Players among his 18 wins worldwide.
McIlroy, Ishikawa and perhaps Manassero might be the next crops of kiddies, and Scott sees a trend.
``Every generation learns from the one before,'' he said. ``Tiger won early and Sergio learned from that, and he did it early. I was doing it at a fairly early age. Now you have Rory and Ryo. They've learned from guys like Tiger. Look at Ryo. He's 18 and he's been doing this for three years. He's already played a Presidents Cup. That's hard to get your head around.''
That begs the question: Who did Woods learn from?
Scott recalls Woods playing Augusta National as an amateur with Greg Norman, not to mention Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.
``I think he learned from the best of his time,'' Scott said. ``He's a special athlete who always had an extra sense. From what I remember hearing from Butch Harmon, Tiger soaked up information from everybody.''
