Who’s next? The up-and-comers you need to know in 2023

No one was talking about Tom Kim a year ago.  Not just because he was ranked outside the top 100 in the world. He was traveling the world and plying his trade under a different moniker, as well. He was Joohyung Kim back then. Now, he’s Tom.  Tom Kim. Six letters that had quite an impact on golf in 2022. The nickname dates back to his childhood love of “Thomas the Tank Engine.” Going forward it will identify one of the top prospects in the game. Kim is still six months from turning 21. He’s already won twice on the PGA TOUR – picking up his two trophies in a matter of four starts, no less – and was the star of the Presidents Cup’s International Team. He’s the first player since Tiger Woods to win twice before turning 21.  Young players like Kim capture our imagination because they ostensibly have another three decades to craft an historic resume. The possibilities are seemingly endless. Golf is an unpredictable game but at least it offers the potential of a decades-long career, a duration that’s the envy of athletes in other sports.  A legendary player will compete against multiple generations, and each successive superstar also spawns a search for the one who will usurp him. The ‘next’ version of today’s star engenders almost as much attention as the current one. Comparison may be the thief of joy but it also is a source of context, helping us better understand what we’re seeing when a kid steps out of the classroom and onto the leaderboard.  That seems to happen on an annual basis these days, so to prepare you for the New Year we have compiled 10 players aged 23 or under who are worth your attention in 2023. As much as golf adores its history, it also has one permanently affixed on the future. Here are some names that could play a big part in it.  1. TOM KIM Age as of Jan. 1: 20 years old South Korea Tom Kim can’t be fazed. He’s proved that again and again over the past few months. Not after making a quadruple bogey on the opening hole of the Wyndham Championship, which he still won by five. And not during a showdown at the Shriners Children’s Open with a former FedExCup champion. And, perhaps most shockingly, not after splitting his pants before his first taste of international team competition. That’s right. Even Kim’s pants couldn’t withstand the pressure of the Presidents Cup. But he could. How he handled the potential embarrassment offers a window into what makes him successful. “As always, because he’s such a fantastic guy and personality, he took everything in stride and he was making a joke of it and having fun with everybody in the locker room about it,” recalled International Team Captain Trevor Immelman. In other words, Kim handles pressure with aplomb. It’s how the 20-year-old became the youngest player to win twice on the PGA TOUR in nearly a century. He’s also the first player since Tiger Woods to win twice on TOUR before turning 21. Kim began the year ranked 131st in the world but will enter 2023 firmly in the top 20. His rapid rise began at the Genesis Scottish Open in July, which he qualified for based on his play on the Korean Tour. He finished third there before a seventh-place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic three weeks later. His Wyndham win came the following week, earning him a PGA TOUR card and all but guaranteeing his spot on the Presidents Cup team. Kim shot 61 in the Wyndham’s final round to win by five, including an incredible 27 on the front nine. Even though his International side didn’t win, a star was born at Quail Hollow. Kim’s electric celebrations were some of the highlights of the week. He won again two weeks later at the Shriners Children’s Open, beating Patrick Cantlay by three after the pair began the final round tied for the lead. “I’m having fun playing on the PGA TOUR,” Kim said. “It’s awesome.” 2. PIERCESON COODY Age as of Jan. 1: 22 years old Plano, Texas Coody turned pro in 2022 as the top player in PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global. He quickly confirmed that he was deserving of that status. It took Coody just three starts to win on the Korn Ferry Tour, and the victory came a week after he finished fourth. He nearly earned his PGA TOUR card in just eight starts, finishing 32nd on the Korn Ferry Tour’s Regular Season Points List. Coody will be back on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 after failing to obtain his TOUR card in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and injuring himself in the season finale. He’s a former No. 1 amateur in the world and past winner of the prestigious Western Amateur. He closed his collegiate career by leading the University of Texas to its fourth NCAA title and first since a Jordan Spieth-led squad.  Coody also comes from a strong golfing family. His grandfather, Charles, won the 1971 Masters and Pierceson’s father (and Charles’ son) Kyle played at the University of Texas and on the Korn Ferry Tour. Pierceson’s twin brother, Parker, also will have Korn Ferry Tour status in 2023 after winning on PGA TOUR Canada in 2022. He was teammates with Pierceson on this year’s Texas team, as well. “They seem to kind of feed off each other and each other’s success,” said their college coach, John Fields. And they have a plethora of knowledge to lean on as they navigate professional golf. What advice does a major winner pass on to the aspiring pro in his lineage? “All you’ve got to do is believe in yourself,” Charles recalls telling a young Pierceson. Charles’ grandsons caddied for him in the Par-3 Contest in his final Masters appearance in 2006.  And they continue to follow in their grandfather’s footsteps today. 3. CHRIS GOTTERUP Age as of Jan. 1: 23 years old Little Silver, New Jersey A fifth year of college definitely prepared Chris Gotterup to enter the working world. Gotterup had a strong career at Rutgers in his native state of New Jersey – he was the Big Ten Player of the Year and an All-American in 2020 – but used an additional year of eligibility to become a star in Oklahoma. In his lone season as a Sooner, Gotterup won the Haskins and Nicklaus awards as the top player in college golf. He also finished in the top 10 of a PGA TOUR event, the Puerto Rico Open, while still a student in Norman. He finished the season ranked seventh in PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global, which takes into account a player’s results over the past two years, and quickly proved he was prepared to play the PGA TOUR. He collected another top-10 on TOUR shortly after turning pro, finishing T4 in the John Deere Classic. He has made the cut in 10 of 12 TOUR starts, including those two top-10s. He will begin this Korn Ferry Tour season with 12 guaranteed starts after finishing T3 in the recent Q-School. Oklahoma head coach Ryan Hybl said Gotterup’s driving “can be unbeatable.” He averaged 326.5 yards off the tee on TOUR last season, gaining more than a half-stroke per round with both his driving and approach play. “More importantly, he is gritty and he believes he is supposed to be there,” Hybl added. 4. MICHAEL THORBJORNSEN  Age as of Jan. 1: 21 years old Wellesley, Mass./Stanford junior He won a national championship at Baltusrol and made a cut at Pebble Beach before contending at a PGA TOUR event. Michael Thorbjornsen has compiled quite a resume, one that includes impressive performances on notable courses and in big events. He won the 2018 U.S. Junior Amateur at Baltusrol, a course that’s hosted multiple U.S. Opens and PGA Championships. He beat Akshay Bhatia, who also appears on this list, in the final match. Bhatia was the top-ranked high-schooler in the nation at the time. Thorbjornsen then made the cut in the following year’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He won the Western Amateur, the second-biggest amateur event in the country, in 2021, as well, and recently was victorious in one of the top collegiate events on the calendar at Olympia Fields, a former U.S. Open venue. Then he finished T4 at the Travelers Championship, located about 90 minutes from his hometown of Wellesley, Massachusetts. All of these accomplishments have earned him 12 points toward PGA TOUR University Accelerated, the most in the program; players who earn 20 points by the end of their third year of eligibility earn immediate TOUR status. He began the final round of the Travelers in seventh place, six shots off the lead, before shooting 66 on Sunday.  He began the final round with five consecutive pars before playing the next six holes in 6 under, including an eagle on the par-5 sixth. That run got him within one shot of leader Xander Schauffele. Thorbjornsen bogeyed the next two holes, however, and finished four back of Schauffele.  “I felt pretty comfortable out there,” said Thorbjornsen, the fourth-ranked amateur in the world. “Maybe a little too comfortable.” That’s not a common reaction from an amateur competing on TOUR, let alone contending. Thorbjornsen’s finish was the best on TOUR by an amateur in six years. “Tough or stressful situations don’t seem to affect him as much as other players,” said Stanford men’s golf coach Conrad Ray, who was a collegiate teammate of Tiger Woods. “As he continues to experience new levels of competitive golf, he has continued to excel.” 5. LUDVIG ABERG Age as of Jan. 1: 23 years old Eslov, Sweden/Texas Tech senior Aberg is in position to reap the rewards of a revolutionary change in the pathway to the PGA TOUR. He currently holds the No. 1 position in PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global. Should he maintain that position after the NCAA Championship in May, he will earn an immediate promotion from amateur golf to the PGA TOUR. The Swede, a senior at Texas Tech, also is No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He fits the mold of the modern player, standing more than 6 feet tall with a strong physique. The driver is his strongest club and he isn’t afraid to hit it, even when fairways narrow. His win in the 2021 Jones Cup Invitational is a testament to his ball-striking. That tournament is played on an extremely penal Ocean Forest Golf Club in cold, winter conditions on Georgia’s Atlantic coast. The list of champions includes multiple major winners. Aberg also won the 2022 Big 12 Championship.  He has impressed with both his physical skills and his poise. In a society seeking immediate gratification, Aberg is without a Twitter account and rarely posts on Instagram. Greg Sands, the head coach at Texas Tech, says it occasionally takes Aberg hours to reply to a text message. He’s not being inconsiderate. He just doesn’t let his phone distract him. “His ball-striking is as good as his mental game, and those are top level,” Sands said. The one time Aberg checks his phone often is during the final holes of a tournament, especially when he and his teammates are in contention. While some try to avert their eyes from the leaderboard, Aberg is checking live scoring on the Internet to see where he stands. Sands likes to tell the story from the final hole of a college event, where Aberg faced a 25-footer to keep the team’s chances of victory alive. “You could see that focus kind of hone in,” Sands said. After making it, Aberg turned to his coach and said, “Man, I love this game.”  “He wants the putt,” Sands said. “He wants the big shot.” 6. RASMUS HOJGAARD Age as of Jan. 1: 21 years old Denmark Hojgaard already is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour, putting his career on a historic pace. If he can continue, he could be joining the PGA TOUR soon. Hojgaard finished 16th in the DP World Tour Rankings in 2022 after closing the year with nine consecutive top-30 finishes, including four top-10s in his final six starts. A similar finish in 2023 could earn him one of the 10 PGA TOUR cards available to the top finishers on the DP World Tour’s season-long points standing (among those not already exempt on the PGA TOUR).  Hojgaard won all three of his DP World Tour titles before turning 21. He won for the first time in just his fifth DP World Tour start. He was 18, making him the third-youngest winner in DP World Tour history. When he won the 2020 UK Championship, he was the second-youngest player to win two DP World Tour titles.  His identical twin brother, Nicolai, won the week after Rasmus earned his third DP World Tour title at the European Masters. The Hojgaards were teammates at the 2018 Junior Ryder Cup and helped Denmark win the 2018 World Amateur Team Championship. Rasmus also had two top-10s on the PGA TOUR in 2022, finishing sixth at the Corales Puntacana Championship and T10 at the Genesis Scottish Open. 7. AKSHAY BHATIA Age as of Jan. 1: 20 years old Wake Forest, North Carolina Bhatia was 12 days shy of his 20th birthday when he won the Korn Ferry Tour’s season opener in 2022. Only Jason Day and Sungjae Im won at an earlier age.  That historic start was the highlight of a campaign that undoubtedly became frustrating. From standing atop the Korn Ferry Tour’s Regular Season Points list, he fell to 30th by the time the 25 TOUR cards were handed out in Omaha. After his win, he missed half of his remaining cuts in the regular season and didn’t finish in the top 10 again. He also missed all three cuts in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Bhatia may not be 21 yet, but he’s already accustomed to the highs and lows of professional golf. He turned pro at 17, shortly after he became the youngest player to ever represent the United States in the Walker Cup. He was the AJGA Player of the Year, the No. 1 junior in the world and reached No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He won the 2019 Jones Cup and is the first player to win back-to-back Junior PGAs. He didn’t make his first PGA TOUR cut until nearly a year after his pro debut. That was a T9 at the 2020 Fortinet Championship. He was still 18, making him the youngest player to finish in the top 10 of a stroke-play event on TOUR since Justin Rose finished fourth at the 1998 Open Championship. “The first year I turned pro is one of the worst years I’ve had playing golf,” Bhatia said. “I struggled mentally. I missed every cut. I had a lot of people expecting me to play well and it didn’t happen. But with COVID hitting, obviously it was hard for everyone, but it was a blessing for me, because I got to sit back, talk to my coach, realize where I’m at in my life.” At the close of 2022, Bhatia did put together two solid weeks on the PGA TOUR that should help him regain confidence for his return to the Korn Ferry Tour. He finished T17 at the PGA TOUR’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship before shooting 62 to Monday qualify for The RSM Classic. He made the cut after a second-round 63 and finished T45. “I’ve just climbed the mountain slowly and slowly,” he said. 8. GORDON SARGENT Age as of Jan. 1: 19 years old Birmingham, Ala./Vanderbilt sophomore Last May, Sargent became the ninth freshman to win the NCAA individual title. That feat is impressive enough, but his performance in the four-man playoff also turned heads. Sargent birdied the first extra hole after hitting a drive that carried some 330 yards over a bunker and landed in a 30-yard-wide fairway that was guarded by a lake. He then knocked a wedge to 8 feet to clinch the trophy. “It sent a message to everybody on that tee box that ‘I’m about to go take this thing,’” Vanderbilt men’s golf coach Scott Limbaugh told the school’s website. “The second he hit that drive, I had about 25 text messages from former players, just saying ‘OMG’ or going crazy about the ball speed. That swing, and then the courage he showed with the wedge to that pin—if you’re not there, you can’t understand what a big boy golf shot that was from a freshman.” The 19-year-old is currently No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and finished the fall college season atop Golfstat’s collegiate rankings. He was the NCAA’s freshman of the year in 2022 after being named USA Today’s top male high-school golfer a year earlier.   Limbaugh said Sargent averages between 185-187 mph in ball speed, which would rank him among the top 10 players on TOUR. But being “crazy long,” in Limbaugh’s words, can lead people to overlook other parts of his game, including a strong short game that complements his distance. “I think what separates him physically is his ability to get the ball in the hole,” said Vanderbilt’s assistant coach, Gator Todd, who also called Sargent “one of the most organized 19-year-olds I’ve ever been around on and off the course.” “He always has a plan when he’s practicing,” Todd added. “There always is a purpose.” Sargent currently has 10 points toward PGA TOUR U Accelerated presented by Velocity Global. Players who earn 20 points before their senior year earn PGA TOUR membership. Sargent’s 10 points are the second-most in the program. 9. COLE HAMMER Age as of Jan. 1: 23 years old Houston Cole Hammer will begin 2023 on the PGA TOUR. Where he goes from there remains to be seen.  Hammer ended his first year as a pro on a high note, finishing T5 at The RSM Classic. That finish gets him into the PGA TOUR’s first full-field event of 2023, the Sony Open in Hawaii. It was his second consecutive top-30 finish on TOUR, coming a week after he finished T27 in his hometown Cadence Bank Houston Open. “It’s big for … me moving forward in terms of confidence,” Hammer said.  “It had taken a while to get there, to get comfortable enough to be able to trust myself on the biggest stage, but I think I do now. Actually, I know I do because I proved it to myself today under a lot of pressure.” Hammer first made headlines at 15 when he qualified for the U.S. Open. He developed into the top-ranked amateur in the world, winning the Western Amateur and Big 12 Championship. He was teammates with the Coody twins on Texas’ 2022 NCAA title team, as well. Hammer, who finished fifth in this year’s class of PGA TOUR University presented by Velocity Global graduates, also has conditional Korn Ferry Tour status for 2023 after finishing T59 at Final Stage of Korn Ferry Tour Q-School last month. It was his position in the top five of the PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Ranking that earned Hammer his spot at Final Stage of Q-School. Hammer is uncertain how many starts he’ll get on the Korn Ferry Tour next year, but his amateur success could make him a popular candidate for sponsor exemptions. As should his recent success. Hammer made three of four cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, including one top-10. The transition to pro golf is often a tough one, though, even for the best amateurs. Hammer saw that firsthand, missing the cut in his first six PGA TOUR starts as a pro. He was a combined 29 over par in those 12 rounds. “This summer was tough on the PGA TOUR,” Hammer said. “I just had about zero patience. As soon as I made a bogey, I felt like the world was ending.” He’ll begin 2023 with the confidence that comes from contending on the PGA TOUR, however. 10. CALEB SURRATT  Age as of Jan. 1: 18 years old Indian Trail, N.C./Tennessee freshman Caleb Surratt went low to win his collegiate debut. Then he did the same to author an unprecedented stretch on the PGA TOUR. Surratt was a highly-touted recruit before arriving at Tennessee, and he showed why after shooting 64-63-65 to win his first collegiate event by three shots. He headed to the PGA TOUR’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship a few weeks later and shot a second-round 64 to make the cut. He struggled to an 85 in the third round, including a 12 on one hole, but rebounded with a Sunday 65. He is one of just five players in the last 40 seasons to have a round-to-round stroke differential of 20 or more strokes, and the only player to do it twice in the same event. His 20-stroke improvement tied the largest single-round improvement on TOUR in the last 40 seasons, as well.  That is fun trivia, but don’t let it overshadow an impressive resume. Surratt picked off several of the top events in junior golf, including the 2021 Junior PGA Championship and 2021 Western Junior. He also was runner-up in the 2022 U.S. Junior Amateur. He earned his spot in the Butterfield by winning the Elite Amateur Cup, which is awarded to the player who earns the most points in seven of the most prestigious amateur events in the United States. His finishes included a runner-up at the Pacific Coast Amateur and third-place finish at the Northeast Amateur. He is already 13th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.

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