Golf's Generation Gap Closes

   While waiting for the Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods we remember to return -- a wait with no guarantees -- golf has gone young.

   Not Justin Bieber young but new generation young.

   It has happened through the years just as reliably as people sneezing in springtime. There was the Crenshaw-Kite-Wadkins era. The Faldo-Langer-Olazabal era. The Woods-Mickelson-Els era.

   And now, there's a new rush of fresh and fairly fresh faces at the top of the game again and that's a very good thing for professional golf. It would be even better if Woods and Mickelson can start winning again but we have reached the point where there's been another generational shift.

   Take the Cadillac Championship at Doral last week. Eleven of the 13 players who finished in front of or tied with Woods are younger than his 35 years.

   Look at the list of PGA Tour winners this year: Nick Watney. Bubba Watson. Jhonny Vegas. Luke Donald. Aaron Baddeley.

   Then throw in Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Matt Kuchar and Martin Kaymer, to name a pretty good foursome.

   The game is in the midst of a transition and it's creating new stars. Watney's victory and his streak of seven straight top-10 finishes has made him the flavor of the week in the discussion about the best American player at the moment. Kuchar remains in the discussion, Johnson reinserted himself with his play at Doral and there are others.

   Tiger's closing 66 on Sunday hinted he might be ready for Augusta. Mickelson, a non-factor at Doral, added Bay Hill to his schedule in hopes of finding what's missing.

   In the meantime, a new generation has filled in quite nicely.

When The Stars Align -- By Coincidence Or Intentionally

   The fact that Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods and Graeme McDowell are paired together this week in the first two rounds of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral is due to their order in the latest world rankings.

  It explains why Nos. 1-3 -- Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald -- are grouped together as are the other top 25 players in the world.  Scroll down the list of groups and you can pick out any number of attractive pairings, including one with Rickie Fowler, Ryo Ishikawa and Jhonatton Vegas.

   While these groupings are based on rankings, the PGA Tour has made the wise move this year of putting together a handful of powerhouse pairings at each event. Rather than let the computer scatter the top players across the tee sheet based on a formula of who's won, who hasn't and other things, the tour seeds a few groups for maximum impact.

   It's a good idea. Play to your strengths. Granted, not every event gets all the top-ranked players in the field but make it easy on fans who want to watch the best but don't want to spend part of their day trekking back and forth between groups.

   The U.S. Open annually has fun (okay fun may be a stretch) with its pairings the first two days and the Masters gets it right, too. Now it can happen at regular tour events.

   That means when the Wells Fargo Championship rolls into Charlotte in May, you can expect a couple of must-follow pairings. That's not to suggest Mickelson and Woods will play together (that's assuming both play here as they typically do) but it won't happen like a couple of years back when all the big names were placed on the same side of the draw, meaning they all played early one day and late the next.

   In the often inflexible world of golf, adding some flexibility to the pairings is a good idea.

McIlroy Makes It Official; 8 Of Top 20 Already Set At Quail

   Defending champion Rory McIlroy has officially committed to play in the Wells Fargo Championship in May, giving the tournament eight of the top 20 players in the latest world rankings with the event still nearly two months away.

   McIlroy's announcement comes as no surprise having earlier said he will be in Charlotte May 2-8 to defend his first PGA Tour victory.

   Other top-ranked players committed to the Wells Fargo Championship include No. 1 Martin Kaymer; No. 11 Jim Furyk; No. 14 Dustin Johnson; No. 15 Bubba Watson; No. 16 Retief Goosen; No. 18 Robert Karlsson; and, No. 19 Hunter Mahan. McIlroy is currently ranked eighth in the world.

   Additionally, 2011 tour winners Rory Sabbatini, Mark Wilson, D.A. Points, Jhonattan Vegas, Jonathan Byrd and Charlotte resident Johnson Wagner have also committed.

   For ticket information, visit http://www.wellsfargochampionship.com/.

Who's The Masters Favorite Right Now?

   Observations after a weekend without a glimpse of golf:

  -- Nick Price was quoted last weekend at the Honda Classic saying the potential demise of the Heritage Classic on Hilton Head Island would be "a tragedy" and he went on to suggest it doesn't help that most of the tour's top players routinely take the week off.

   He's right, losing the Heritage would be a bad thing on many levels, particularly as it reflects on the PGA Tour not being able to keep one of its long-standing tournaments on the schedule due to sponsorship issues. There's still time for the Heritage to be saved beyond this year but finding a sponsor ready to kick in $8 million a year isn't easy.

   There have been suggestions that the tour and Accenture move the WGC match play event to Hilton Head, slotting it in the week after the Masters. All the top players will be in the area and Harbour Town could make for great match play. It seems like a good idea but not one that seems likely to happen.

   -- Tiger and Phil are both playing the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral this week. I'm guessing one of them will muster a top-10 finish -- just not sure which one.

  -- If you had to pick a favorite for the Masters right now, who would it be?

      Is there a favorite right now?

      I'm thinking Martin Kaymer is probably the guy to beat but it may be Luke Donald, who has had his moments at Augusta. Somehow I'm guessing they won't be the guys getting all the attention when the world rolls into Augusta in another month.

Jack On Tiger: 'I Still Think He'll Break My Record'

   As always, when Jack Nicklaus sits down in an interview room, he has something interesting to say.


   Prior to the Honda Classic, Nicklaus sat down for what was essentially a session related to the 25th anniversary of his 1986 Masters victory (maybe it’s just me but it doesn’t seem that long ago) and the hour-long interview went in a variety of different directions.

   That meant talking about Tiger Woods.

   Nicklaus said he hasn’t talked with Woods since the Memorial Tournament last May but, despite Tiger’s struggles, he still expects to see Woods break his record of 18 major championship victories.

  “I’ve said all along, I’m surprised that he has not bounced back by now,” Nicklaus told reporters. “I think he’s got a great work ethic, or at least he did. I assume he still does…

  “He’s so determined to what he wants to do. I’m very surprised that he has not popped back. I still think he’ll break my record…

  “We’ll see. You can probably ask me the same question at the end of this year and we’ll see what the answer is – it will probably define a lot of what will be the answer.”

   As for all the talk and questions regarding Woods’ latest swing change, Nicklaus said he regularly changed his swing, often during a tournament. His most significant swing change came after a poor 1979 season. He put his clubs away for several months then in January went to work with his long-time teacher Jack Grout. Nicklaus felt his swing had become too vertical and changed it.

   Nicklaus went on to win two majors in 1980. The big difference, Nicklaus said, is Grout never went to tournaments with him, attracting the attention swing coaches get today.

   “I made changes constantly in my swing,” Nicklaus said. “That’s how you get better. If you don’t make changes, you don’t improve. I don’t care who you are because your body continually changes.

   “My body at age 46 was certainly a lot different than it was at age 25 and/or at 35..as is Tiger’s body a lot different at 35 that it was at age 25. He’s got a beautiful golf swing. He’s always had a beautiful golf swing. But you always continually tweak things that you do within that golf swing to try to improve it. Sometimes you’re successful, sometimes you’re not.
 
  “So are guys making changes? Yeah. And do they need to make changes? Yeah. And should they just go about doing it? Yeah. But they are under a microscope today…So it becomes more public. We made them all the time.”

USGA Gets It Right WIth Davis As New Boss

   In the same way Mike Davis has nailed the set-up of U.S. Open golf courses in recent years, the USGA got it right this week when it named Davis to replace David Fay as the organization's new executive director.

   Davis is the right man at the right time.

   He has the sensibilities necessary to navigate the various levels of politics, business and ego that run through golf at its highest levels while maintaining an appreciation and understanding of what the game is and should be at its grassroots level. He gets it.

   "Mike is the consummate golf person," USGA president Jim Hyler said on a conference call announcing Davis's promotion.

    Davis is a man who did what was once unthinkinable -- he softened the U.S. Open. Okay, maybe it's like dulling a razor blade but Davis realized that not every miss in an Open has to leave a scar. He introduced graduated rough. He offers a driveable par-4 where he can. He seeks fairness in a course set-up while still presenting a thorough examination of the best players' games.
 
   Davis was one of the people who endorsed the extensive restoration project at Pinehurst No. 2 and he loves talking about seeing both 2014 Opens played without rough. That's how different Davis sees things.

     And the players, a finicky bunch especially when greens are hard, fairways are rough and the pressure immense, have applauded Davis. That may be the ultimate endorsement.

   In succeeding Fay, Davis will take over an organization that deals with layers of issues from agronomic to equipment to television deals. He is the seventh executive director of the USGA and he has known the last five, working directly with some of them for extended periods.

    Fay had the good vision to take the U.S. Open to true public venues such as Bethpage and Torrey Pines. He softened some of the starch in the organization as has Hyler, whose guidance has greatly benefited the USGA.

   Davis will make his own mark and it's too soon to know exactly how he'll differ from Fay but he will. It's natural. The good news is the USGA decided to allow Davis to continue overseeing the set-up of U.S. Open courses. He'll surrender the duty for the Women's Open, the U.S. Amateur and the Walker Cup but not for the biggest event.

    It was a critical element in hiring Davis. He wanted it and the USGA was smart to let him continue doing it.

   "I have been public about this. I love the golf course set up part of what I've done," Davis said. "I almost mean it that I would pay the USGA money to allow me to do this. I love putting that puzzle together."

   At the same time, the USGA found the right piece for its puzzle.

Who's The Best American Golfer Now?

   The question has been asked in various corners recently and it's a fair one:

   Who is the best American golfer right now?

   And, no, it's not him or him, as in Tiger or Phil.

   That says something about the current state of both of their golf games, neither of which qualifies as sharp. Tiger's game is someplace between lost and found and Mickelson's game is missing its familiar crackle. It's just the first of March, which means the azaleas haven't begun blooming in Augusta so there's still time for them to be ready when the pollen really pops.

  Hold your breath at your own risk.

  So who's the current Yankee Doodle Dandy?

   The world rankings, top-heavy with Europeans at the moment led by the undeniably No. 1 Martin Kaymer, say the top American is No. 5 Woods with Phil at No. 6. We've already excused them from this discussion so we're still looking.

   Steve Stricker comes to mind. What doesn't come to mind with Stricker is a big performance recently. He finished tied for fourth in the season-opening Tournament of Champions but, given the field size, that was close to the middle of the pack. He's among the best but not the best.

   Jim Furyk's game is currently in a state of disobedience so he's removed from the discussion.

   That brings it down to Matt Kuchar, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson.

   So far, Johnson's season has been underwhelming. Maybe he's bothered by the great expectations heaped on his broad shoulders this year (I'm among those who expect a big year from him) or maybe he's just not getting much to happen now. He's moved away from Myrtle Beach to south Florida and maybe it's messing with his mojo.

   Kuchar just keeps rocking along, having turned into a big-time player over the past year or so. He seems intent on staying around for a while and that's a good thing. Fowler is just arriving but still needs to win a tournament though I think he's going to win a whole lot of them.

   Right now, though, I take Bubba as the best American player. He's certainly the most dramatic with all creativity and power. Maybe Bubba gets a little too creative at times but at least he plays golf with flair and he doesn't seem afraid of failure. Seeing him on a telecast is like running across 'The Godfather' on cable. You can't help but stop and watch at least some of it.