The Old World's best have hit on rough times in recent years
Web posted
Sunday, April 4, 2004
It has reached such a desperate state, you half expect to see a shingle hanging under the "Members only" sign at the end of Magnolia Lane.
"Help Wanted: European superstars apply within."
There didn't used to be a shortage of European luster at the Masters Tournament. Augusta National Golf Club was the most Euro-friendly venue on the American majors circuit. No European golfer has won the PGA Championship since Scottish-born Tommy Armour in 1930, and England's Tony Jacklin was the last to win the U.S. Open, in 1970.
But Augusta was once an oasis for Europe's golfing royalty.
In the 1980s and '90s, a sextet of European superstars dominated the Masters and the British Open and reigned in the top 10 of the fledgling world ranking. Seve Ballesteros (Stats | Bio) and Jose Maria Olazabal (Stats | Bio) of Spain, Nick Faldo (Stats | Bio) of England, Sandy Lyle (Stats | Bio) of Scotland, Ian Woosnam (Stats | Bio) of Wales and Bernhard Langer of Germany became the greatest generation in European golf's history by winning a combined 18 majors in 21 years.
"We had a good bunch, didn't we?" said Faldo, who won three Masters and two British Opens. "Seve led the way, and we all started after."
"The five or six of us were just a very special generation," Langer said. "It doesn't happen every hundred years or 20 years that five or six great players come along at the same time, all the same age."
It was Europe's finest golfing era since the days when the game started there. The addition of continental Europeans to the Ryder Cup teams in 1979 infused a competitive rush that carried over into major breakthroughs.
"How good was that crop?" said Curtis Strange, a two-time U.S. Open winner who lost a Masters to Langer and was a player and captain in the Ryder Cup. "They were the heart and soul of not only the Ryder Cup, but every tournament they played."
The Masters was Europe's favorite venue. Europeans won 11 times at Augusta National in 20 years, including a stretch of seven in 10 years that filled the gap between Jack Nicklaus (Stats | Bio) ' last and Tiger Woods (Stats | Bio) ' first Masters victories.
"It never happened before, but for a stretch of years you could see Bernhard and Nick and Sandy and Seve and myself and Woozy winning over there almost every year," Olazabal said. "We were proud of it, but we weren't rubbing it in the U.S. players."
Europe has produced good golfers since - players capable of winning against the Americans on the Ryder Cup stage - but none has elevated himself to greatness by closing the deal in majors.
Scotland's Colin Montgomerie (Stats | Bio) has contended in every major but come up short each time. England's Lee Westwood and Irishmen Padraig Harrington (Stats | Bio) and Darren Clarke (Stats | Bio) have all been tapped as potential world beaters but have yet to come through. Sweden's Jesper Parnevik and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez had a couple of cracks at majors before their games faltered.
"You had a spell where a couple of people found it very hard to deliver in America," Denmark's Thomas Bjorn (Stats | Bio) said. "They could deliver anywhere else in the world, but they couldn't deliver in America. The group that came right behind found it difficult."
"For whatever reason, the Europeans haven't done quite as well as they have in the past, and I don't know quite what the reason for that is," England's Justin Rose (Stats | Bio) said. "This (PGA) tour is very strong in depth, but in Europe it's incredibly strong as well. It shouldn't be weighted that heavily. The Americans should possibly win more (majors) over a 10- to 15-year stretch, but it definitely shouldn't be as lopsided as it currently is."
In February, for the first time since the inception of the world golf ranking in 1986, no European was in the top 10 - a fact Bjorn calls "a bit mad."
Harrington moved back onto that list with his runner-up finish at The Players Championship.
"We don't have the players that we had in the early to late '80s," said Harrington, the highest-rated European at 13th. "That's why we don't have players in the top 10 or top five. We have to play better. That's the simple truth of it."
As the golden age stars are approaching their golden birthdays, Europe waits for new golfing giants to take their place.
"I think we are just going through a period of time that on the European Tour there are no superstars," Ballesteros said. "No charismatic players. They are all good players, but not to keep up with the Americans at the moment."
"There are individuals, but not a group of five or six," Langer said. "But there are some individuals who have the potential, and we'll have to see. A lot of competition worldwide."
Much of that competition - from Australia, South Africa, Asia and even the best of Europe - is playing more of its golf in America, siphoning world ranking points from the European Tour events.
As for Augusta National, it is no longer the Euro-friendly tract it once was. The theory goes that the course was designed by a Scotsman to mesh with the European creativity around the greens. With the course recently being stretched and the fairways tightened by rough, trees and bunkers, that advantage has been reined in a bit.
"With the changes of the golf course, it's pretty obvious that the range of players that can do well there is reduced," said Olazabal, the last European to win at Augusta, in 1999. "You have to be a long hitter now and have a very good short game to win. We don't have too many long hitters."
The longer the European majors drought lasts, the more pressure is applied to the current crop.
"You had all those guys winning majors, and we haven't had that for quite some time," Clarke said. "We're all trying to do as well as we can. It's a tall order to follow."
Faldo doesn't believe his generation's success put too much pressure on its heirs. Their success, he believes, should have made it simpler for other Europeans to back them up.
"It's far easier to follow," he said. "When somebody's made it to the top of Everest, suddenly it's doable. Once you break the four-minute barrier, then it's doable. If you have that effect, once you see somebody else do it, you think, 'I can do it as well.' That was everything for me. If Seve can do it, I can do it."
"There are a lot of talented young golfers right now, aren't there?" Faldo said. "The more they mature and get experience ... just throw yourself in the deep end. That's the bottom line, and work it out. The best thing is to get in there and get that feeling, then analyze it and go home and work on it and come back ready for another day. That's all I really did."
Europeans are trying just that, playing more golf in the states to prepare themselves for major challenges. They believe the cycle will soon turn.
"I think Europe will have their time again," said Bjorn, who let last year's British Open slip from his grasp. "But it's just a bit of a weird one. I think we're good enough, Lee, Darren, Padraig and myself, to win major championships and compete in major championships. I think it's a question of whenever a guy knocks one off then it will take care of itself and people will tend to follow after that. You just need one guy to knock it off and do it. We certainly all have the game to do it."
England's young Rose agrees.
"If we could spur each other on ... if one of us wins a major it will prove to all of us that it's all possible and is there for the taking," he said. "It can happen, and it can happen soon for any of us. It's a matter of believing we're not too young to start winning majors. That's a big hurdle to get over."
The current generation of European golfers grew up watching Ballesteros and Faldo dominate the world. It drew some of them to the game. It drives them to achieve something on a similar scale.
"I think there's a lot of great players coming up," Garcia said. "We're capable of doing great things, too. It's going to happen."
"It will always come and go," said Jacobson, ranked 18th in the world thanks to a scrambling style that has him compared to Ballesteros. "A lot of European guys doing good for their age. Hopefully we'll mature up and get up there as well."
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
