With Tiger, Phil out, kids romp at Waste Management Open
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The kids are out of control.
With the pre-weekend departures of headliners Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the buzz Saturday at the PGA Tour's biggest classroom was provided by youngsters. Tossing pressure aside despite the enormous crowds, the kids are paying no heed to seniority and turning this place into Romper Room.
Spurred by Woods and his bar-setting ways and work in the weight room, the young men are hungry and not shy of the spotlight. They aren't scared to grip it and rip it in today's power game. Aggression is their calling card, and they are not intimidated by anyone or any setting. And they don't have the scar tissue from getting walloped by Woods for years.
Yes, the game has trended younger for years now, but during the first two rounds, Woods, 39, and Mickelson, 44, looked even older. And everywhere they looked a kid was ripping up TPC Scottsdale.
Japan star Hideki Matsuyama, who at 22 already has a win at Jack's place in the Memorial on his resume, is high on the leaderboard at 10 under and three shots out of the lead set by Martin Laird, who at 32 said he felt like an old man. Tied with Matsuyama and Zach Johnson, who at 38 could certainly crash the party, is Brooks Koepka, 24, who has traveled the world chasing his dream of steady stardom on the PGA Tour. He won the Turkish Airlines on the European Tour last year.
Two shots behind those two is Russell Henley, already a two-time Tour winner at 25. The high school graduating class of 2011 is well represented by Jordan Spieth, Daniel Berger and Justin Thomas, all 21 and all making a major impact, especially Spieth, who has already heard he's the next Tiger.
Rickie Fowler is here, too, and he's a star at 26. As is Patrick Reed, who at 24 has four Tour titles – joining Woods, Sergio Garcia and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy as the only players in the last 20 years to accomplish that.
And the youngest of the toddlers here in the Phoenix Open is Jon Rahm, a junior at nearby Arizona State who is making the most of his sponsor's exemption with rounds of 70-68-66 to be in a tie for fifth.
Speaking of McIlroy, he's dominating in another desert, leading the Dubai Desert Classic by four shots.
"We have all played golf against each other since we have been 12, 13, 14, so we all kind of grew up with each other, playing against each other. We all know how good we are, but it's just about getting it done on Sundays," Koepka said. "The way Rory is playing, the way Fowler is playing, everybody else has to step it up. Even Patrick Reed, too. Guys are getting in contention and they are winning, and to keep up, you better do the same thing."
Rahm, who is from Spain, surprised some when he said he's in the tournament to win it. Just four shots back, he certainly is in position to do so.
"I never thought I was going to feel this comfortable, I've got to say," Rahm said. "I was feeling really comfortable about my swing and my game. I was actually, in the practice rounds, hitting the ball better than I am right now. I was hitting every fairway, which right now it feels like a challenge to hit a fairway, but I've since kind of pulled it off making a couple of chips every day.
"So I'm not surprised, but I didn't expect it. Something between there."
Mickelson said before he missed the cut that Rahm is going to be a force. He just didn't say how soon.
"He's a phenomenal player," said Michelson, whose brother, Tim, is Rahm's coach at ASU. "The guy is a tremendous talent. Hits the ball a long ways, great feel with the putter, and he's the guy that's always wanting to know what he has to do down the stretch to win and he finds a way to do it so often.
"I think he's going to be a real stud on the PGA Tour."
You could just cut and paste Mickelson's words and attach them to a story about quite a few youngsters out on Tour these days.
