“Are today’s tour players better than before?”: Patrick Cantlay shares his opinion
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Patrick Cantlay
Preparing for this week’s RBC Heritage Classic, Patrick Cantlay was asked his opinion about whether today’s tour players have been better than ever before.
This question of course stems from the win of Jordan Spieth at the 2013 John Deere Classic at age 19. Becoming the youngest winner since 1931, he became the trendsetter for young pros making their impact after immediately coming on tour. After his win, Spieth won five more times, including two majors as well.
Other top 5 players ahead of Cantlay and under the age of 30 include Scottie Scheffler (25), Morikawa (25), Jon Rahm (27), Viktor Hovland (24) and Cameron Smith (28). “That’s a trend we’ve continued to see, that the best players in the world, in the past they used to be over 30 and now they seem to be around 30 or a little younger,” Cantlay said.
“Younger players have knowledge that we did not”: Patrick Cantlay talks about his experiences as a young golfer
Patrick Cantlay mentions the impact of new technology and availability of good coaching has had an effect on the improvement of younger players faster. He says that there was knowledge that he was deprived off that young players today have easy access to.
“And so there’s kids that are growing up with Trackman from 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 years old.“So by the time they’re 16, 17 and they’re developing into really good junior players, they’re dialed in on all of that stuff and they have been working on launching it at 2,000 spin at 13 or 14 to get it to go as far as possible,” he said according to golf.com.
Cantlay however also believes that this could mean shorter careers for these pro athletes. While he said that there will always be exceptions, the overall expectation is the same. “The competition seems more fierce and so it takes more out of guys, more out of their bodies, more out of their preparation, more from a time perspective, and so the careers get hotter and shorter.”
Also Read: “Trying to glorify God” – Masters winner Scottie Scheffler credits the almighty for his historic win
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Saivee Phatak
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