Youth is Served

Did you miss Tiger not making the cut at Quail Hollow this weekend? Did you refuse to watch because of that? If so, you missed the greatest weekend of golf in quite some time. Two of golf's great young talents showed they belong.

Getting that one, big worldwide win is all Ryo
is lacking.

In Japan, 18-year-old phenom Ryo Ishikawa shot an astounding 58 on a par-70 course. The score set the record for lowest score ever for a major tour event. Going into the final round, Ryo was six shots behind, but birdies on 9 of his last 11 holes thrust him into the top position and his seventh tour win in Japan. Not bad for being 18, huh?

What was almost more impressive was who Ishikawa beat. It was none other than Shigeki Maruyama. Maruyama has had a bit of success in the states, too.

All Ryo needs now is that one victory worldwide to put him front and center in all of golf.

Rory will celebrate tomorrow. After all,
you only turn 21 once!

The bigger story was at Quail Hollow. 20-year-old Rory McIlroy blitzed the field on the weekend for his first win on American soil. I the process, McIlroy set a few records. He fired a course record 62 on Sunday. Combine that with his 66 on Sunday and the 128 was a record for a weekend at Quail Hollow. He also had a birdie or better on 25 holes for the tournament, a record he shares with Vijay Singh. His opening round even par 72 is the highest opening round for a winner.

A nice weekend of golf on of the the tour's harder stops, especially the last three holes. Some consider 16, 17 and 18 the hardest finishing three holes on all of the tour.

Add this. Over McIlroy's last six holes, he took a mere 18 strokes, including 16 and 18. Yes, your math is not failing you. He did make a 3 on each of those 6 holes.

The more impressive feat is that McIlroy is one of three players to win a tournament before turning 21 years of age. The other two: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Pretty lofty company the Irish lad is keeping.

What's the most impressive thing about Rory's win? His fellow pros couldn't describe what the youngster had done.

Phil Mickelson called him "some kind of player". Anthony Kim, McIlroy's final round playing partner went a bit further.

“It was unbelievable, I don’t know how else to say it,” Kim said. “He was in a zone. He hit a lot of fairways and made a lot of big putts. It seems like a lot of the younger guys don’t make those putts, but he did.”

A zone? 18 strokes on those final six holes is way beyond being in a zone.

Electronic Arts now looks like a bunch of geniuses.