New respect for the old guys: the tour's roaring 45somethings show the kids they still have something left

Golf Digest, March, 2003 by Jaime Diaz

DAN FORSMAN FIGURED HIS CAREER WAS OVER. Having missed the PGA Tour's top 125 for the first time in 18 years at the end of 2000, Forsman, then 42, was ready to walk away from competitive golf like a vanquished old lion cast out into the Serengeti.

"Surviving the Tiger Woods era is a tough equation," Forsman said at the time. "All of a sudden, guys are bombing it 40 yards by me. And they have a terminator attitude, like they own the place. It doesn't do your ego a lot of good. Right now, I'm a lot happier away from the game."

It was a natural reaction to what in the last few years has become a given: Youth and power have taken over pro golf. Early last year Fred Couples proposed surrender by promoting the idea of a tour for former major-championship winners between the ages of 37 and 55. "I cannot compete with the young guys, and I don't see that changing," said Couples, now 43. Skeptics wondered if Couples was simply addicted to Silly Season-like events, but the ultra-driven Nick Faldo backed him. "We can't be competitive with the young guys anymore," echoed Faldo, 45. "Our role now is to entertain people."

Within a few months, however, golf's "Lord of the Flies" script got a surprise infusion of "Cocoon." Although the 27-year-old Woods reigns supreme as under-25ers Sergio Garcia and Charles Howell III try to close in, the tour's oldest players are, as a group, performing better than ever. Last year six players 45 or older finished among the top-40 money-winners on the PGA Tour: Fred Funk (13th), Jeff Sluman (15th), Nick Price (19th), Loren Roberts (28th), John Cook (35th) and Scott Hoch (38th). Never before in the history of the tour had more than three players of that age finished a season among the top 40. Seven players in their 20s made the top 40, and only because Jonathan Byrd and Pat Perez sneaked in at numbers 39 and 40.

In addition to the Ceaseless Six, there was the indefatigable Bernhard Langer, who at 45 was competitive on both sides of the Atlantic, starred in the Ryder Cup and won the European Tour's Volvo Masters. And then there was Forsman, who regrouped to regain his card at the end of 2001, then rallied in 2002 to win his first tournament in a decade.

"One of the great things about the tour is that a 23-year old like me can get his butt whipped by a 47-year-old who's really consistent," says David Gossett, who often practices with Roberts in Memphis. "Older players like Loren and Scott Hoch might not necessarily have more shots than we do, but they might be more proficient with the ones they have."

What's it all mean? Well, first, don't expect a bunch of 45-pluses to start beating Woods. The only players to win a 2002 PGA Tour event from that age group were Sluman, Price and Roberts--all in tournaments that Woods skipped. Still, by the end of the year, older players were being regarded with new respect. "People don't understand that your game doesn't fall off the edge of the earth," says Tom Kite, 53, who finished 35th on the tour's money list when he was 47. "You might lose some physical skills, but not drastically. You can improve in other areas, so there's actually a net gain."

It's a trend in all sports. In baseball, Barry Bonds at 38 has just completed two of the greatest seasons any hitter has ever had. In some of the most athletically demanding positions in sports, NFL wide receiver and NBA guard, Jerry Rice, John Stockton and Michael Jordan have remained among the best at age 40.

Golf has always given its best players the longest active life span. It's the sport most resistant to the old athlete's lament, "By the time I finally figured out how to do it, I couldn't anymore." But until recently, golf 's best examples of ageless wonders--Sam Snead, Gary Player, Julius Boros, Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd and Hale Irwin--were all Hall of Famers.

Things seem to have changed. Today's 45-pluses who have had the most illustrious careers--Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman--have all seen their games decline. So has two-time U.S. Open winner Curtis Strange. And Mark O'Meara, after a magical 1998, is struggling with motivation. It seems that so much effort and focus is required to become the best player in the world that there is little left for the autumn of the career. Call it the curse of the great. "I think you lose your mental stamina," says Faldo. "Mentally, I used to play 72 holes night and day. It was very, very demanding, and I'm sure it took a toll. Whatever my mental fuel tank is, it's not 100 percent compared to before."

With the exception of Price, a three-time major winner, the 2002 season's aging excellers are a different breed. They have been good but not great. All see themselves as improving, still-hungry golfers. The oldest, the 47-year-old Roberts, and Funk, 46, both feel young by virtue of late starts. Roberts spent six years as a club pro before getting through Q school in 1981. Funk was the golf coach at the University of Maryland for six years before joining the tour at age 32.