At the beginning of 2013 there were three young players that appeared to be a cut above the rest of the talented young players coming out of college and joining the professional ranks.
Peter Uihlein, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth did not fail to disappoint.
Cantlay won early in the Web.com season at the Colombia Championship. He fought a back injury that limited his play for most of the year, and he fell outside The 25 at the end of the season. Nursing his sore back and in obvious pain, he finished runner-up at the Web.com Tour Championship and secured his PGA Tour card for 2014.
Cantlay has been resting his back and has not played any events in the 2014 wrap-around schedule. Hopefully he will be 100 percent when the tour starts up in January.
Peter Uihlein took his golf clubs and talent to the Challenge Tour in Europe. He earned his European Tour playing privileges by winning the Madeira Islands Open in May. He finished the 2013 season with eight top-10 finishes, earned €1.3 million and finished No. 14 in the Race to Dubai.
He is currently No. 67 on the Official World Golf Rankings. His goal is to play his way onto the PGA Tour by moving inside the Top 50 in the world and gain entry into the major championships and the WGC tournaments.
Jordan Spieth was by far the most impressive of the young golfers last season. He won full membership on the PGA Tour by winning the John Deere Classic in July and receiving a captain’s pick to the 2013 President’s Cup team.
Here are three youngsters that golf fans should watch in 2014.
Chesson Hadley was a three-time All-American at Georgia Tech before turning professional. He had eight top-10 finishes on the 2013 Web.com Tour, including wins at the Rex Hospital Open and the season-ending Web.com Tour Championship.
He played in four events in the 2014 PGA Tour wrap-around schedule. He finished T-72 at the Frys.com and was T-5 in Las Vegas, but missed cuts in the McGladrey Classic and in Mexico.
Brooks Koepka was a three-time All-American at Florida State before turning professional. He joined the Challenge Tour in Europe after competing in the 2012 Open Championship as an amateur.
Koepka won the 2012 Challenge de Catalunya in September. He won three more events on the Challenge Tour in 2013 and earned full membership to the European Tour.
Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Koepka led the 2014 Frys.com after both the second and third rounds. He shot one-over par 73 in the final round and finished T-3.
He has proven that he knows how to win golf tournaments and has moved to No. 92 in the world. It will be interesting to see how long it takes Koepka to find his way onto the PGA Tour.
Hideki Matsuyama is a 21-year-old golfer from Japan and was a member of the 2013 International Presidents Cup team.
In addition to winning three events on the Japan PGA Tour, he finished T-10 in the U.S. Open and T-6 in the Open Championship.
He only missed one cut in seven PGA Tour events in 2013 and was offered full membership to the tour for 2014.
He finished T-3 at the 2014 Frys.com and T-25 in the CIMB Malaysia Classic. He was forced to withdraw from the WGC-HSBC due to illness.
This young Japanese player has proven he has the game to compete and win on the PGA Tour.
Professional golfers must earn their spot on the tee sheet every day. The infusion of new young talent onto the PGA Tour constantly pushes the veterans to improve.
These three young players are probably causing some sleepless nights among PGA Tour veterans.