Tom Kim became the youngest pro golfer to successfully defend a PGA Tour title in over 110 years this past Sunday, winning his third tour and also becoming the youngest player since Tiger Woods to capture three of them.
Kentucky-born Justin Thomas, whom Shane Lowry won’t let live down his Ryder Cup defeat, is also one such player. And, in this piece, we will take a look at five of the youngest to defend their PGA Tour accolades.
-
John McDermott
Let’s start with John McDermott.
McDermott was 19 years, 10 months, and 14 days old when he won his first US Open at the Chicago Golf Club in 1911, and he’s still the youngest golfer ever to win the tournament.
He also became the first American-born to do so, having beat George Simpson and Mike Brady in a three-way playoff. McDermott made some more history a year later after successfully defending said title, triumphing over Tom McNamara by two strokes at the County Club of Buffalo. The seven-time pro winner carried out this title defense at the age of 20 years, 11 months, and 21 days, becoming the youngest pro to defend a championship.
-
Tom Kim
The aforementioned Tom Kim became the youngest golfer since Tiger to win a pair of PGA titles after winning the Shriners Children’s Open.
On Sunday, aged 21 years, three months, and 24 days, Kim defended his title at TPC Summerlin, beating Adam Hadwin by one stroke. As mentioned above, the victory saw him become the youngest golfer in over 110 years to defend a title on the PGA Tour, as well as the second-youngest to win a trio of them.
-
Gene Sarazen
Gene Sarazen won the PGA Championship at the age of 20 years, five months, and 22 days old in 1922. He became the first player to win the US Open and PGA Championship in the same year and opted not to relinquish the title when he beat Walter Hagen in 38 holes the following year.
He was 21 years, seven months, and two days old at the time.
-
Justin Thomas
JT was 22 years, six months, and three days old when he beat Adam Scott by a single stroke to win the CIMB Classic in 2015. He successfully defended his hardware by beating Hideki Matsuyama by three strokes the following year all while aged 23 years, five months, and 24 days.
Thomas is just coming off a loss in the Ryder Cup that left all American golf fans disappointed.
His hometown of Louisville, Kentucky might be disappointed, but local fans have the chance to engage with the sport in a new way, by exploring the Kentucky sports betting apps available to place wagers on future tournaments.
The golfer, now 30, was the victim of some trolling after making it known that he was vacationing with his wife Jillian Wisniewski on Lake Como. JT posted a number of photos to his Instagram page, leaving Lowry with an opportunity to poke some fun at him given the beating the Americans got from the European contingent.
“Any pics from Rome???” Lowry asked in the comments, much to Thomas’s annoyance.
“Shane it’s been two weeks and was starting to forget,” JT replied.
-
Jack Nicklaus
Golf icon Jack Nicklaus, who holds the record for winning the most majors in the sport, won the Tournament of Champions at the age of 23 years, three months, and 15 days in 1963, beating Arnold Palmer and Tony Lema by five strokes. The victory was his sixth PGA tour, and he would keep his hands on his hardware a year later, defeating Al Geiberger and Doug Sanders by two strokes while aged 24 years, three months, and 13 days old.
Nicklaus is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers to ever swing a club. He won a whopping 117 professional tournaments over the span of his career, as well as a record 18 majors.
He also participated in more major tournaments than any other player, 164, and has 73 PGA Tour wins to his name, the third-most behind Sam Snead and Tiger.