Alan Truex: A generation from Tiger, Wolff is best of the young lions
With the aging of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and the faltering of the young lion Jordan Spieth, golf could be in danger of fringehood, following horse racing and car racing at least partway down the path to irrelevancy. National polls and accountants for sporting goods stores report that golf is losing popularity as a pastime. It’s too time-consuming, too expensive for most of us to play.
And from a spectating perspective, it’s not very interesting compared to the endless reality shows of football, basketball and baseball. Aside from Woods and Mickelson, who have the ability and inclination to articulate their life stories, there’s a lack of narrative in golf. Not many stars, not many rivalries.
Bruce Koepka? The World’s reigning No. 1 is a robotic technician, with stretches of superstar performance, but a dour personality. Do you hear of anyone liking him? When his 28-year-old consort, the globally known actress/model Jena Sims, offered him a good-luck kiss prior to a round at the PGA Championship, he rebuffed her.
He didn’t need luck, won the tournament anyway. So now he’s the only golfer in history to own back to back championships for two majors at the same time.
Next week he will try to work the British Open into his trophy case, but in his most recent public appearance he barely showed up. He did not seem engaged in the inaugural 3M Open in Blaine, Minn. At 29 he played the way twilighters Woods and Mickelson have been playing lately. Woods, 43, his back ungrooved again, sat out the Minni tournament. Koepka played, but you had to pay close attention to notice. He finished 65th. After Mickelson, 49, missed the cut.
I can understand Koepka lacking fire on the TPC Twin Cities course, which is a close-cropped birdie haven. On the other hand, it was perfectly nurturing for a 20-year-old Tour rookie, Matthew Wolff.
Not worried about outmuscling a drive and causing it to veer off line, he could unwind his tortured, full-body twist of a swing. This was a place where Wolff, making his fourth start as a pro, could relax. He was unable to do that in his previous tournament, the Travelers, when he fumbled his scorecard and dropped it into mud as he approached the first tee.
In Minnesota the galleries cheered more for Wolff than for anyone else. He had inspired a following – the Wolff Pack — as a sophomore at Oklahoma State. He won the NCAA championship by 5 strokes.
Adding to Wolff’s comfort zone Sunday was his playing partner, Collin Morikawa, who’s 23 and has competed with him since their high school days in Southern California. Morikawa has finished top-40 in all four of his PGA events, including a 35 at the US Open.
As they strolled across the TPC on Sunday’s back 9, Wolff and Morikawa were joyfully talking with each other. Joyful because they were playing equally well and placing at the top of the leader board. These kids are much more than Alright. They’re the future of golf. It’s fun watching them enjoy the scene.
Suddenly their elder Californian, 25-year-old Bryson De Chambeau, burst onto the stage. He eagled No. 18 by chipping from 61 feet, to take a temporary lead at -20.
Wolff followed De Chambeau onto the 18th green and made his eagle putt from 26 feet, before Morikawa missed his – barely – on a curve from 22.
So Wolff won by one stroke over Morikawa and De Chambeau. Wolff did not sound surprised to win. He told the CBS audience: “When I got to Oklahoma State, the coaches told me I had talent they’d never seen before. I think this week I really believed in myself.”
This is the sort of cockiness we’re not accustomed to hear from golfers of any age, let alone a minor. Wolff went on to display a chip-on-the-shoulder like Koepka, who uses any perceived slight as a motivator.
When Wolff was a child, his mother, Shari, could not afford golf lessons for her son. So he taught himself. He excelled in baseball, developed a power swing that he adapted to golf. He twists his body more than the traditional golfer, opening his stance with an exaggerated bending of knees as he launches a backswing. He delivers his downforce with a vengeance.
Golf pros marveled at his distance but insisted his complicated swing would not hold up in tournament play.
“To prove them all wrong motivates me just a little bit more,” Wolff said after becoming the youngest tour winner since Spieth took the 2013 John Deere Classic.
Wolff joins Woods and Ben Crenshaw as the only golfers to win the NCAA title and a Tour event in the same year.
Fortunately, when he was 14, Matthew met a SoCal golf instructor, George Gankas, who was willing to work with the swing the boy had rather than try to change it.
“He’s going to be a huge disruptor,” Gankas said. “He has the charisma, the way he hits the ball, the way he carries himself.”
Gankas may have been the first, but now there are many who see Wolff as the new-generation Tiger, who brought a dedication to training that revolutionized the sport. Now we see De Chambeau, the Mad Scientist who’s rethinking golf, changing its tactics and constantly engaging our attention. He’s won five PGA events.
Also impressive is the 21-year-old Norwegian, Viktor Hovland, who finished 13th at Detroit in just his second PGA event. He repeated with a 13th in the 3M.
Hopefully, Tiger will have some great moments, win another major or two. Even if he doesn’t, the 500-year-old sport has the new blood it needs. De Chambeau, Morikawa, Hovland and a rebuilding Spieth will do their part. But I look for the transcendent Matthew Wolff to be the one to seize the torch and lead golf on a resurgence.
