In Day One of the PGA Championship in Atlanta, the older golfers have risen to the top of the leaderboard, while the youngsters of the tour head into the second round playing catch-up.
As of this writing, four of the first five leaders are 40 years of age or older. The only player in the top five that is younger than 40 years old is Aussie Jason Day.
Steve Stricker leads the oldies-but-goodies with a 7-under-par 63, missing the PGA Championship record by one stroke.
Joining him in the top five are Americans Jerry Kelly, Shaun Micheel and Scott Verplank. Kelly has never won a major in his career, and his best finishes are fifth and seventh at the Masters and U.S. Open respectively in 2007.
However, there is a bit of intrigue with Micheel and Verplank. Micheel won the 2003 PGA Championship. Verplank played very well at the Atlanta Athletic Club in the 2001 PGA Championship, tying his best major finish with seventh place.
If any of the 40-plus leaders are to continue to lead this year's PGA Championship, I expect it from Stricker, Micheel or Verplank.
But I'm still skeptical.
Micheel won the 2003 PGA Championship, but in his last there years on the tour, his best finish in a major as been 22nd place; as for Verplank, his best finish has been 18th place.
Stricker is an interesting case based on his play this year overall, but, as I detailed here, I'm still skeptical of a player who has yet to win a major championship.
As for Day, he's done this before. This year alone, he's placed second in both the Masters and the U.S. Open. He's another one of those cases where I have to see it to believe it. He has the ability; he just needs to learn how to distance himself from the rest of the competition.
But I still have a lot of confidence in other younger players like McIlroy and Bridgestone Invitational champ Adam Scott.
Regardless, I think the experience of the older golfers will give way to the up-and-comers this year in Atlanta when it's all said and done.
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