ESPN Golf

We don't know what your birth certificate says, but the following information is enough to make anyone feel old:

Sunday's champions on the PGA and LPGA tours are a combined 43 years old.

Who would have thought that Anthony Kim, 22, would win the Wachovia Championship … and still fail to become the youngest player to triumph on a major tour this weekend, losing that honor to Paula Creamer, who won the SemGroup Championship at the age of 21?

Combined, Kim and Creamer are younger than Vijay Singh, Juli Inkster, Fred Couples, Laura Davies, Woody Austin, the original blueprint for the Ping Anser putter, the first motorized golf cart, Doral, Bay Hill and Firestone.

The Weekly 18 begins with an examination into why and how so many young players are finding success so far this year.

If the Masters is the traditional quarter mark of the golf season and the U.S. Open is the midway measuring stick, let's consider the upcoming Players Championship the one-third checkpoint, which makes it as good a time as any to analyze any specific trends on the PGA Tour.

With apologies to the exploits of Tiger Woods, the greatest recurring theme of 2008 has been the propensity of players under 30 to claim titles on the game's most elite levels. So far, eight 20-somethings have earned titles on the PGA and LPGA tours in a combined total of 28 events. Why such an increase? Let us count the ways:

• Winning supersedes swinging. The main knock on Michelle Wie -- one of the few former phenoms who isn't taking care of business in the professional ranks right now -- was always that she never learned how to win, instead skipping such opportunities on the amateur level in lieu of testing her wares against more experienced pros. Most of the young winners around now have taken the conventional path, however, as former amateur, collegiate and junior golf champions have simply carried over their winning ways from younger days.

Rather than simply working on finding the best golf swing, it seems these players are now more focused on hitting the best shots in the most important situations.

"When I was saving all my energy to make a swing at a golf ball at a golf tournament, I realized that that's probably not the way to go," Kim said. "I wasn't taking practice swings so I would have more energy to hit a drive or hit a second shot. You know, all that stuff is behind me. I was an immature kid last year, and I feel like I've grown up quite a bit, and I think that helped me so much this week."

• No fear. At the Wachovia, Kim turned a three-stroke 54-hole lead into a five-stroke victory by stepping on the gas pedal rather than playing defensive golf.

"You never know what some of these guys can do," he said afterward. "They can easily shoot 30 on the back nine. … I needed to keep going, keep playing my game and not really lay back until I had four or five holes remaining."

It's an attitude fairly reminiscent of that of Trevor Immelman, who won the Masters rather than simply letting every other player lose it, and one that reverberates with fellow under-30 players who more and more are ensuring those chances at success don't go for naught.

• It's all cyclical. Just 12 months ago, many were questioning the current crop of youngsters, which earned them the undesirable nickname of Generation Why in some circles. Now, Lorena Ochoa has shed the "O-choke-a" label, winning two straight majors; Immelman has a green jacket hanging in his closet; and others are stepping up to contend seemingly every single week.

At some point, though, these players will continue getting better and getting older. They'll graduate to their 30s and we'll again be left wondering why players of the younger generation can't come through in the clutch -- until they, too, begin winning. Call the current cycle an uptick in the stock performance of the young blue-chippers.

• The Tiger effect. For years, we've been waiting for Woods' impact to be seen within the next generation on the professional level. Well, guess what -- it's here. When Tiger won the 1997 Masters at 21, many of these players were still very much in their formative years; Kim, for one, was just 11 years old. Woods' effect on the current wave of younger players can't be overstated.

• The Lorena effect. Just as numbers for the under-30 set were inflated by the success of Woods before the 2006 season, the same goes for Ochoa, 26, who has accounted for five of the 16 victories from 20-something players this year.

Even so, that's 11 other wins for the so-called Generation Why. These kids are all right, indeed.

As mentioned, Kim's victory was the eighth on the PGA Tour this season by a player in his 20s, which already surpasses last year's total. Here are the numbers for the past three seasons (or, more to the point, since Tiger Woods turned 30 and stopped skewing the stats):

Twenty is plenty
Year	Events	Wins by players under 30
2008	18 (so far)	8
2007	47	7
2006	48	12

Just for the heck of it, let's take a look at all the 20-somethings who have won in each of those seasons.

2008: D.J. Trahan (Bob Hope Classic), J.B. Holmes (FBR Open), Sean O'Hair (PODS Championship), Andres Romero (Zurich Classic of new Orleans), Johnson Wagner (Shell Houston Open), Immelman (Masters), Adam Scott (Byron Nelson Championship) and Kim (Wachovia Championship).

2007: Aaron Baddeley (FBR Open), Charles Howell III (Nissan Open), Scott (Houston Open), Nick Watney (Zurich Classic), Hunter Mahan (Travelers Championship), Jonathan Byrd (John Deere Classic) and Brandt Snedeker (Wyndham Championship).

2006: Geoff Ogilvy (Accenture Match Play Championship and U.S. Open), Ben Curtis (Booz Allen Classic and 84 Lumber Classic), Holmes (FBR Open), Luke Donald (Honda Classic), Baddeley (Verizon Heritage), Carl Pettersson (Memorial Tournament), Immelman (Western Open), Trahan (Southern Farm Bureau Classic), Troy Matteson (Frys.com Open) and Scott (Tour Championship).

We'd be remiss if we didn't take this opportunity to repost the following from Mark O'Meara, which was used in the Jan. 27 edition of the Weekly 18:

"I played the Merrill Lynch Shootout this year with Anthony Kim as my partner. … Everybody asks, 'Who's the next young player to come along? Who's the next talented young player?' I see a lot of talented young players. Nothing really kind of jumped out at me until I played with this kid. I played with Anthony for three rounds there in Naples, and I was blown away. … I think Tiger's mental game was probably stronger [at a similar age]. I think actual technique-wise, swing-wise, I reckon Anthony's swing is better at 21 or 22 than what Tiger's was."

Though it's certainly too early to compare the talents of Kim with those of a young Woods, if Tiger's buddy O'Meara can do so, well, it's fair game for all of us.

With his victory, Kim became the 13th player since 1970 to win before his 23rd birthday. Tiger Woods did so on seven occasions (including the 1997 Masters), and Sergio Garcia (three times), Phil Mickelson, Robert Gamez and Jerry Pate (twice apiece) also accomplished the feat multiple times.

What's that? You want to see the entire list? No problem -- here it is, courtesy of the PGA Tour:

Young guns
Player	Tournament	Age at time of win
Phil Mickelson	1991 Northern Telecom Open	20 years, 6 months, 25 days
Tiger Woods	1996 Las Vegas Invitational	20 years, 9 months, 6 days
Tiger Woods	1996 Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic	20 years, 9 months, 20 days
Seve Ballesteros	1978 Greater Greensboro Open	20 years, 11 moths, 24 days
Tiger Woods	1997 Mercedes Championship	21 years, 13 days
Scott Verplank	1985 Western Open	21 years, 26 days
Tiger Woods	1997 Masters Tournament	21 years, 3 months, 14 days
Sergio Garcia	2001 MasterCard Colonial	21 years, 4 months
Tiger Woods	1997 GTE Byron Nelson Golf Classic	21 years, 4 months, 18 days
Sergio Garcia	2001 Buick Classic	21 years, 5 months, 16 days
Robert Gamez	1990 Northern Telecom Tucson Open	21 years, 6 months, 2 days
Tiger Woods	1997 Motorola Western Open	21 years, 6 months, 6 days
Robert Gamez	1990 Nestle Invitational	21 years, 8 months, 13 days
Ben Crenshaw	1973 San Antonio Texas Open	21 years, 9 months, 24 days
Sergio Garcia	2002 Mercedes Championships	21 years, 11 months, 28 days
David Gossett	2001 John Deere Classic	22 years, 3 months, 1 day
Tiger Woods	1998 BellSouth Classic	22 years, 4 months, 10 days
Bobby Clampett	1982 Southern Open	22 years, 5 months, 4 days
Phil Mickelson	1993 Buick Invitational of California	22 years, 8 months, 5 days
Jerry Pate	1976 U.S. Open Championship	22 years, 9 months, 4 days
Jerry Pate	1976 Canadian Open	22 years, 10 months, 9 days
Anthony Kim	2008 Wachovia Championship	22 years, 10 months, 15 days
Lanny Wadkins	1972 Sahara Invitational	22 years, 10 months, 24 days
Sean O'Hair	2005 John Deere Classic	22 years, 11 months, 29 days

Looking at that list, two things stick out for us. First, just because Kim has won at an early age doesn't necessarily guarantee a career of elite-level status. We're not doubting it will happen, but the same expectations were placed on guys like David Gossett and Bobby Clampett, neither of whom ever won again.

And second, here's guessing Mickelson takes a little pride in knowing this is one list on which Woods will never be able to catch him.

Lest you think young players are succeeding on the men's tour only, check out the LPGA's under-30 set, which has accounted for a much greater percentage of victories than its PGA Tour brethren, thanks largely to Ochoa, of course.

Only four different players have won the tour's 10 events so far. Ochoa has five wins; Creamer has two; and Louise Friberg, 27, has one. Annika Sorenstam, 37, has accounted for the only two victories by players 28 or older.

Gotta love the resiliency shown by Creamer this week. After making bogey to lose on the first playoff hole against Sorenstam at last week's Stanford International Pro-Am, she struggled to a final-round 1-over 72, losing a two-stroke lead on the final hole of the SemGroup to fall into another playoff, this time with Inkster.

Rather than hang her head, Creamer displayed some much-needed spunk, winning with an 8-foot birdie on the second extra hole.

"I was not going to lose this week," Creamer said. "I was going to win. This was my turn this time."

Although she finished last season among a group behind Ochoa that included Suzann Pettersen, Mi Hyun Kim, Seon Hwa Lee, Cristie Kerr and Jeong Jang, with two wins and two other top-three results this year, Creamer is rapidly establishing herself as part of a small, elite second tier alongside perhaps only Sorenstam and Pettersen.

The only thing missing for Creamer is a major championship; she owns three career top-10s in 15 major appearances, with a best finish of T-3 at the 2005 LPGA Championship. Expect her first major title to come sooner rather than later -- that is, if Ochoa, who has won the past two majors, ever loses another one.

Stop the presses. Or start them. Whichever will get the word out that for only the second time in seven starts this season, Ochoa failed to take home a trophy Sunday.

After starting 73-74 at Cedar Ridge, Ochoa came back to shoot 71-69 on the weekend, finishing T-5, but still fell short in her bid to tie the all-time LPGA consecutive victory mark (for overall appearances, not scheduled events; she skipped last week's tourney), as Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) remain the only players to win five in a row.

"It's done," Ochoa said. "I tried really hard, and it didn't work. Hopefully, I'll start a new streak next week."

Pretty eventful week for John Daly. It started with this video of him playing golf without shirt nor shoes on his Murder Rock course in Arkansas; continued with reports that one of his ex-wives, Paulette, had an affair with former baseball player Roger Clemens; and concluded with his missing the cut at the European Tour's Open de Espana.

In between, Daly fired a shot at his former swing instructor Butch Harmon, saying, "I called [Harmon] the other day and he said he realized he didn't get his facts right and he felt bad about it. He has apologized to me. After what Butch said … my marketability went right down. I told him, 'You cost me quite a bit of money through the stuff that you said, I wish you would have called me when you could have got the facts straight.'"

Harmon then fired back, telling ESPN.com, "I told him that he had no one to blame but himself, that 'Until you start realizing that you're the cause of all this and get some help, you're going to continue to have problems.' I told him I would be glad to help. But I wasn't going to retract anything that I said."

Those might have been a couple of hefty uppercuts, but the truth is there are no winners in this heavyweight bout. JD lost out on a coach who very well could have helped turn his game around, and Butch was forced to drop a player who had the potential to be his finest reclamation project to date.

So, what now? Well, first things first: There will be no reunion tour. "That won't ever happen," Harmon said. "I like John Daly and wish him well. I hope he gets his act together. … I saw this ridiculous video the other day of him playing without his shirt and shoes. He does one bizarre thing after another. I feel sorry for him. He's a tremendous talent. But he's wasted all of his talent and continues to do so."

All of which leaves Daly in the familiar position of having to fend for himself, with no other regular instructor on the payroll. Although he would love to prove Harmon wrong by playing good golf again, chances are Daly will look at the continued success of former fellow pupils Mickelson, Scott and Stewart Cink, and kick himself for losing that connection.

One week after the CEO of EDS criticized the PGA Tour only to renew its title sponsorship of the Byron Nelson a few days later, Wachovia announced a new deal through 2014 -- hot on the heels of the company's $300 million first-quarter losses.

"From its inception in 2002, the Wachovia Championship was intended to be a tradition that would bring customers, players and golf fans back each year for an unforgettable experience," Ken Thompson, chairman and CEO for Wachovia, told The Charlotte Observer. "As the title sponsor of the tournament, we are excited that what has come to be regarded as one of the finest events in professional golf will continue through 2014 and will maintain its commitment to giving the majority of the event's proceeds to Teach For America."

With a new title sponsor for the tournament based in Tampa, Fla., expected to be announced soon, and a deal in the works to bring the Texas Open back to the spring part of the schedule, things are falling in line nicely for the PGA Tour, which as of very recently had some palpable issues in the areas of scheduling and sponsorship. With these deals imminent, it will be interesting to see how, if at all, the 2009 schedule differs from the current one. If the rumor mill is right, expect some fairly major tweaks to the placement of some regular-season events.

The new Rule of 78 came into play this week, as 87 players were within 10 strokes of the lead through two rounds. Earlier this season, such situations called for those 78th or worse (plus ties) to claim last-place money and take the weekend off, but that rule was later amended to exclude players from only the final 18 holes.

"That cut rule was ridiculous, stupid, because we're 10 back," said Pat Perez, who after rounds of 72-73 was on the number at Wachovia. "Tiger [Woods] has won from 12 back, 15 back. It happens. [Ben] Crane shot 127 on the weekend and won in Atlanta. It does happen. That's the thing, you get lucky, you get out there early, you get out at 7 o'clock, you get some sleep, you've got no wind. Greens are perfect and you can take advantage of it, and I just happened to."

Perez took the most advantage of this new rule, shooting a third-round 65 to move from the cut line to T-8 through 54 holes, only to slip into a share of 12th place Sunday.

In last year's so-called "new era in golf" (aka the FedEx Cup), the 125th-ranked player earned $785,180. (That player, Mathias Gronberg, took the last fully exempt spot via the money list.) Through 18 events this season, 47 players already had eclipsed that magic number, seemingly guaranteeing a full-time job for 2009 no matter what happens between now and when the Fall Finish comes to its merciful close at the Children's Miracle Network Classic on Nov. 9.

Among the not-so-notables now playing with house money are Kevin Sutherland, Cliff Kresge and Nicholas Thompson, who has parlayed a Nationwide Tour promotion into five top-25 finishes so far, including a pair of T-4 results. He missed the cut at the Wachovia, his fifth MC in 15 starts this year.

The latest entry for Shot of the Year? Stewart Cink's birdie putt on No. 17 in the third round of the Wachovia this week.

We know; if you haven't seen the shot, you're likely wondering how a birdie putt -- especially one that didn't win a major or clinch a Ryder Cup -- can receive such lofty praise. Well, here's how: Cink earned it by holing the putt while precariously perched on a rock wall bordering the green, hitting down on the ball and causing it to bounce into the air, through the rough and fringe, onto the green and into the hole.

"It was a 230-yard shot dead into the wind, right to left, and I hit a 4-iron, and I hit it almost over the green in the water," Cink said of his initial approach shot into 17. "Totally shocked by how far it went. And it just rolled through the rough and it got on the rock, I guess, must be just trickled onto it, and then it just found its way into the little mortar between the rocks, you know, like a depression in the mortar. The rock ledge is probably about as wide as this desk, and my ball was just dead in the center of it in a little depression. So I had one foot of rock, then I had a foot of hazard grass, and then I had about three yards of rough, and then I had 15 feet of green. It broke a little right, and it went in."

Let that be a lesson to you, golf fans. Anytime you're hitting a ball from atop a rock wall just off the green, make sure to read the green.

Of course, Cink, who has been a self-proclaimed "lightning rod" for rules situations this year -- he was DQ'd from the Zurich Classic for signing an incorrect scorecard after a rules violation that was eliminated from the books one week later -- couldn't pull off the feat without a bit of controversy.

"Clumsily, I used my hand to balance to get down really low and look at the putt, and my hand happened to be inside the hazard line, and I was like, 'Oh, no, what did I just do?'" Cink explained. "In the decision book, I believe it was, it says that you're allowed to touch the ground in order to balance to keep from falling over. Well, I was balancing my hand because I wanted to get as low as possible, and I really didn't feel comfortable doing the Camilo [Villegas] Spiderman right there on the rock wall with the water. I was balancing just trying to get as low as I could to see what angle I needed to use to hit the shot properly without causing more damage."

It was ruled that Cink did not have to incur a penalty, leaving a 3 on the scorecard en route to a 7-under 65, which tied for the best round of the day.

The end of the road might not be very near for 41-year-old David Toms, but he can at least see it from here.

"I'll either get back to a high level or I'm not sure that you'll see me as much," Toms said after shooting an opening-round 67 on Thursday to grab the lead before finishing T-18. "I don't enjoy the not playing great golf. You know, I'm secure enough at home with my family and financially to where if I'm not having fun playing and I feel like it's a struggle physically, then I won't continue to do it full time."

The Wachovia was Toms' first top-20 in seven stroke-play events this season -- a season that has been marred by a back injury that flared up before the second round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.

"I've got a couple of deteriorated discs in the back, and from time to time my back just locks up to where I can't really move at all," Toms said. "I guess if I was 25 and in perfect shape, it wouldn't be that big a deal, but I'm not either one of those. You know, it's just something I have to be smart [about], picking up luggage and kids and just not sleep in a bad position and just take care of myself a little bit better."

As a result, Toms may find himself on the outside looking in for this year's Ryder Cup team, which could be the first U.S. roster he'd fail to make since 2000. Before this week, he was 34th on the points list.

As he has throughout the 2008 season, Pat Perez played the Wachovia Championship with a pair of 5-irons in the bag, using both max game improvement and blade/forged clubs, both from TaylorMade. Perez employs the company's CGB Max version when he needs the trajectory of a 4- or 5-iron but the distance of a 3- or 4-iron; he chooses the RAC forged MB when he's seeking a more traditional 5-iron distance.

How has the strategy worked so far? Quite well, as evidenced by his five top-25s in a dozen starts so far this season. Looking for more specific evidence? Check out his second-round hole-in-one at Bay Hill, when he used the blade 5-iron to find the bottom of the cup from 218 yards.

While Perez toils with a pair of 5-irons, fellow TaylorMade player Charlie Wi has eschewed the club altogether this season. Instead, Wi uses a 6-iron that is 2 degrees stronger than usual and a 4-iron that is 1 degree weaker. That leaves room in his bag for an extra wedge, a concept Wi says he "loves," as he now carries four of 'em -- at 48, 52, 56 and 60 degrees.

Such variety has led to Wi's improvement on in-between yardages; he's 10th on the PGA Tour from 75 to 100 yards, with an average distance to the hole of 13 feet.

Although he followed a season-best T-7 at last week's Byron Nelson with a missed cut at Wachovia, Wi has fared well this year, with five top-25 finishes in 11 starts.

Bryan DeCorso is averaging about a foot under 300 yards off the tee this season (299.7), which surprisingly places him just 36th on the Nationwide Tour driving distance list. (The same number would put him in ninth position on the PGA Tour, which features decidedly tighter landing areas on most weeks.)

It's no wonder a big bomber found himself atop the leaderboard at this week's South Georgia Classic, which was played at Kinderlou Forest CC. At an eye-popping 7,781 yards, the course is the longest of any PGA Tour-sanctioned event in history. For the week, DeCorso ranked 12th in driving distance at 306.6 yards per.

Peter Lawrie defeated local favorite Ignacio Garrido in a playoff to win his first career Euro Tour title at the Open de Espana, but let's give special commendation to Danny Willett, who earned absolutely nothing for his T-10 finish.

That's because Willett, 20, is still an amateur; he competed in the tourney on a sponsor's exemption and posted his second top-20 result in as many starts on the pro circuit this season. A native of Sheffield, England, Willett is ranked 1,037 in the world, but he's the No. 1-ranked amateur player, holding both the English and Spanish amateur titles.

Perhaps even more impressive than the record is his number, as Willett is listed as a plus-5 handicap. Informed of that at the Open de Andalucia in March, fellow countryman and longtime pro Lee Westwood responded, "He is a plus-5 handicapper? He should be giving me strokes this weekend."

"I think if I had won last year, my practicing would have gone down to even less, and there wasn't much to go down. I might have been playing on the Hooters Tour. It might have been the best thing for me, just to get slapped in the face and realize that I can't win out here without practicing and giving it my all and focusing on every golf shot."

-- Anthony Kim, on waiting to win his first PGA Tour title.

Jason Sobel covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Jason.Sobel@espn3.com.