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By Jack Bantock, CNN
4 minute read
Updated 7:27 AM EDT, Mon October 10, 2022
As we take a look at some of the most talented prodigies in the history of golf, where better to start than Tiger Woods: Six junior world championships to his name, the only player to win three US junior championships in a row, and a three-peat winner of the US amateur from 1994 to 1996. Woods turned pro in August 1996. Within a year, he'd scooped three PGA Tour events, become the youngest winner of The Masters at 21, and become the fastest player to reach No. 1 after turning professional, just 290 days into his pro career. Pictured, Woods at the 1996 US Amateur Championships.
Following a series of wins in Canadian amateur events, Brooke Henderson became the youngest-ever winner of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship (at the Sahalee Country Club, pictured) when she won her first major aged 18 in 2016. Henderson has since racked up eight wins on the LPGA Tour, her most recent coming at the LA Open in April 2021.
After becoming the youngest player to win the British Amateur Championship in 2009 (at Formby Golf Club, pictured) and make the cut at The Masters as a 16-year-old the following year, Italy's Matteo Manassero burst onto the pro scene, becoming the first teenager to win three times on the European Tour. Victories at the Castello Masters, Malaysian Open, and the BMW PGA Championship suggested the arrival of a new superstar, but Manassero has since endured a difficult spell. He hasn't won on the European Tour since 2013, though 7th and 8th Tour finishes already in 2022 have made for a solid start to the year for the Italian.
The youngest-ever known winner of a professional golf tour event, 14-year-old Atthaya Thitikul made headlines around the world when she triumphed at the Ladies European Thailand Championship in 2017. A string of amateur titles followed before Thitikul turned pro in 2020, and the Thai prodigy's meteoric rise continued with three more Ladies European Tour wins by September 2021. She won her first LPGA Tour event in March 2022 at the JTBC Classic in Southern California (pictured), and in May, rose to No. 4 in the world rankings.
Continuing Thailand's recent trend of golf prodigies, Ratchanon "TK" Chantananuwat narrowly missed out on besting compatriot Thitikul's record when he became the youngest male player to win on a major Tour aged 15 years and 37 days. Victory at the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup in April 2022 (pictured) set a new peak in the schoolboy's amateur career, having already become the youngest player to make the cut in the history of the All Thailand Golf Tour in 2020, aged 13 years and four months.
Having already won on the ALPG Tour earlier that year, New Zealand's Lydia Ko became the youngest golfer to win on the LPGA Tour when -- at 15 years old -- she triumphed at the CN Canadian Women's Open in August 2012 (pictured). After turning pro in October 2013, Ko has gone from strength to strength with an already-glittering trophy cabinet. At 17 years old, she was the youngest golfer to reach the No. 1 ranking in 2015, and today boasts 17 victories on the LPGA Tour.
Arguably the greatest golfer never to go pro, Bobby Jones is one of the sport's most influential figures. A prodigious young talent with a string of wins by the age of 14, it took longer than expected for Jones to win his first major, triumphing at the US Open in 1923, aged 21. He soon added three more and three British Open titles before retiring at just 28. He proceeded to found and help design the course at Augusta National Golf Club, where The Masters -- then known as the Augusta National Invitational -- was first hosted in 1934.
One of the most famed golf prodigies in recent history, a 10-year-old Michelle Wie became the youngest player to qualify for a USGA amateur Championship in 2000. Aged 14 in 2004, she bested many of the world's top men's players' and major winners at the Sony Open (pictured) despite narrowly missing the cut. With a professional career marred by injury, victory at the US Women's Open in 2014 has proven to be the career peak for Wie, who told CNN she had been considering retirement before the birth of her daughter in 2020.
Golf's greatest-ever prodigies
CNN —
Records tumbled in Tiger Woods’ wake when the prodigious amateur turned professional in 1996 in one of the most breakneck accelerations to the summit that golf has ever seen.
So when, 26 years on, a 20-year-old is matching the early feats of the 15-time major winner, it’s probably worth taking notice.
Kim “Tom” Joo-hyung accelerated his meteoric rise with victory at the Shriners Children’s Open on Sunday, becoming the first golfer since Woods to win twice on the PGA Tour before turning 21. The duo are the only players to achieve the feat since the Second World War, according to ESPN Stats and Info.
The South Korean carded an unblemished 24-under 260 to secure a three-shot triumph over Patrick Cantlay in Las Vegas, making him just the third player since 1974 to win a stroke play event without making a single bogey.
Kim putts on the ninth green during the final round.
After his maiden triumph at the Wyndham Championship in August, it marks Kim’s second Tour win in his last four outings – and sandwiched between the two titles was a hugely impressive performance at the Presidents Cup in September.
He’s played nine Tour events since July, but Kim has shrugged off any suggestion of burnout.
“I’m a five-year-old at Disneyland,” he told reporters, “It’s hard to get tired from this.”
“A few months ago, I didn’t have any status in the US, and now being a two-time winner on Tour, having that place with Tiger, it’s an unbelievable feeling for me.
“It’s an honor for me, and it’s definitely a dream come true.”
At 20 years, three months and 18 days old, Kim clocked his second triumph six months earlier than Woods, who was under three months shy of his 21st birthday when he clinched the Walt Disney World Golf Classic in October 1996, two weeks after his first Tour win at the Las Vegas Invitational – now the Shriners Children’s Open.
Woods celebrates victory at the 1996 Walt Disney World Golf Classic.
In April the following year, Woods took his ascent to new heights by becoming the youngest ever Masters winner at Augusta. While a 23rd place finish at the US Open in June marked an impressive showing in Kim’s fourth ever major outing, the South Korean is keeping his feet planted firmly on the ground.
“Hopefully, I can have a long career, and I’ve got to work really hard – I can’t get satisfied at all,” he said.
“I’ve just got to keep playing better because there’s a lot of guys who work really hard and who have achieved a lot more than me.
“I’m not even close to Tiger. Whether it’s Tiger, Rory [McIlroy], Justin [Thomas], Jordan [Spieth], those guys, I’ve still got a long way to go, so I just need to keep working hard.”
‘I got really fortunate’
Kim’s winning card matched the record for the lowest winning score at the event since TPC Summerlin changed to a par-71 course in 2009, according to the PGA Tour, yet the 20-year-old had been locked level with Cantlay heading to the final hole.
Having shot a tournament best 11-under 60 on Saturday, Cantlay saw his hopes of a ninth Tour victory crushed by a disastrous triple bogey at the 18th. After finding the bushes from the tee, the American decided against a drop to try and play out, only for his escape shot to travel just one yard.
The American’s woes were compounded when his subsequent shot dropped into the water, as Kim parred to put the gloss on what had been a closely fought final day.
“When you have a two-shot lead and you have a guy like Patrick coming at you, no lead is safe,” Kim said.
Kim drives from the tee during the final round.
“I just stayed really patient. I played my game plan, and I just got really lucky on the final hole. Patrick has played so good this week, and I got really fortunate.”
It marks Cantlay’s third runner-up finish in five starts at the event.
“After it was kind of in the bush there, I figured the only chance I had to stay in the tournament was to try to get it back in the fairway,” he told reporters.
“I played well all week for the most part, one bad swing at the end. Obviously would have liked to have closed the deal out today, but sometimes, that’s golf … the last hole makes the whole week kind of sour.”
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