2011 preview: 11 storylines to watch

With 2011 upon us, here’s a list of 11 storylines I’ll have an eye on this year:

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Martin Kaymer

Kaymer, who turned 26 on Dec. 28, is No. 3 in the world. His proficiency in finding the winner’s circle – he won four times in 2010, including the PGA – means he’s a leading candidate to become World No. 1 this year. Kaymer isn’t as flashy as some of his peers, but that’s OK. In a world of increasing self-promotion, it’s nice to see a soft-spoken type like Kaymer earn recognition solely for what he accomplishes with his clubs.

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Sean Martin's Top 11 storylines of 2011

Here are the top 11 storylines Sean Martin will be following in 2011.

Koreans

Many predicted that Y.E. Yang’s victory at the 2009 PGA Championship would do for Korean men what Se Ri Pak’s 1998 U.S. Women’s Open victory did for her countrywomen. Two Korean men – Bio Kim and Sunghoon Kang – earned PGA Tour cards via Q-School. Kim, 20, also will be the youngest PGA Tour member next season. And they’re not even the best of the bunch. Kyung-Tae Kim, 24, is No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning the Japan Tour Order of Merit. Seung-Yul Noh, 19, won the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2010 (see below).

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TV broadcasts

The PGA Tour’s six-year deal with the two networks is set to expire in 2012, so ratings will be important this year. Of course, wins by Tiger Woods are the quickest way to boost ratings, but we have to start looking for other solutions. TV execs met with the PGA Tour’s Player Advisory Council in 2010 to discuss ways to liven up broadcasts. Most agree that providing microphones for caddies is one of the best, and most feasible, ways to improve broadcasts, but players seem hesitant to accept the move. Here’s hoping both sides can find a common ground.

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Rickie Fowler

Fowler lived up to the expectations in 2010, finishing 22nd on the money list and earning Rookie of the Year. The only thing missing from his resume? A victory, which would add substance to his style. Fowler was criticized heavily for laying up on the 15th hole in the final round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. I wonder how those same talking heads would respond if he went another season without winning. Fowler’s play in the lower-profile Fall Series late in 2010 seemed to indicate he’s trending upward. He finished in the top 25 in all five starts, including three top-5s.

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58?

After all the low scores we saw in 2010 – even a high-school kid shot 57 – it’d only seem appropriate that 2011 would bring the PGA Tour’s first 58.

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Peter Uihlein

Uihlein, the U.S. Amateur champion, is No. 1 in three separate world amateur rankings, and No. 1 in Golfweek’s college rankings. His victory at Chambers Bay earned him exemptions into the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. It’ll be interesting to see how amateur golf’s dominant player fares on pro golf’s biggest stages.

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Erin Hills

Once again, the U.S. Amateur will provide the first national exposure for a highly-rated venue scheduled to host a U.S. Open. Erin Hills, site of the 2017 U.S. Open, will host this year’s Amateur. Last year, it was Chambers Bay, the 2015 U.S. Open host. The on-course action at Chambers Bay was memorable – top names continued to advance through the match-play bracket, with the world’s top two players meeting in the final – but the test run also revealed flaws in the course’s design and conditioning that will need to be changed in advance of the Open.

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Graeme McDowell

Entering 2010, McDowell had won four European Tour titles in eight seasons as a pro, had just one top-10 in a major and was No. 39 in the world. Even McDowell would’ve had a hard time imagining the year he’d have: three victories, including the U.S. Open, clinching the Ryder Cup, then defeating Tiger Woods in the Chevron World Challenge.

“It’s going to be tough to replicate what I did this year in 2011,” McDowell said. I’m interested to see how he does.

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Seung-Yul Noh

Noh, 19, isn’t mentioned enough in the conversation of good young players. In 2010, Noh became the youngest player to win the Asian Tour’s Order of Merit, and he was that tour’s player of the year. He finished 34th in the Race to Dubai after winning the Malaysian Open. He also had solid finishes in two majors, finishing 40th in the U.S. Open and 28th at the PGA. He deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as Rory, Ryo and Rickie.

Photo Gallery

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Golfweek's Tracy Wilcox chooses her Top 30 images of 2010.

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Tom Lewis

This 19-year-old English amateur will be Uihlein’s foil at the Walker Cup. He also proved late in 2010 that he’s one to keep an eye on. He finished 12th in the Australian Open, and lost a playoff in the New South Wales Open, another pro event Down Under. Lewis, the son of a former touring professional, has a simple swing that’s turned him into a dangerous long-iron player.

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Tiger Woods

What list would be complete without his presence? All eyes are on Woods, no matter what he does.

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Prepping for Q-School: 11 players to watch

Q-School’s make-or-break nature guarantees plenty of intrigue. A single stroke over 108 holes can be the difference between golfing rags and riches. One good week can vault an unknown to the PGA Tour, while former major champions can find themselves without full-time employment.

Q-School is a reality show actually based in real life, not some manufactured existence. This year’s event, which begins Wednesday at Orange County National outside Orlando, should be even more interesting than most editions. Among the entrants are former teen phenom Ty Tryon, two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton and Billy Hurley, a former Walker Cup team member who’s restarting his career after serving in the Navy.

These players already have interesting back stories that’ve been told countless times. But many players come to Q-School as relative unknowns, either fresh off the amateur circuit, or after years of toiling away from TV cameras on the mini-tours.

Here are 11 Q-School first-timers to watch this week:

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Joseph Bramlett: Bramlett was the youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Amateur when he made the ’02 event as a 14-year-old. Five years later, he was a second-team All-American as a Stanford freshman, helping the Cardinal to the national title. The remainder of his college career was marred by wrist injuries, but he’s back in form.?

He won the prestigious Northeast Amateur this year, qualified for the U.S. Open, made the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur and made the Q-School finals in his first attempt. He’d be the first African-American since Adrian Stills in 1986 to earn a PGA Tour card at Q-School.

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Roberto Castro: Castro, a former Georgia Tech All-American, finished 62nd on the Nationwide Tour money list despite starting the season with no status. He Monday-qualified for the Cox Classic, then tied for 19th to earn a spot in the next week’s Wichita Open, where he finished runner-up. He had six top 25s in 12 Nationwide Tour starts, and finished seventh on the eGolf Professional Tour money list in just eight starts, thanks to a victory and runner-up.

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Dustin Garza: Garza was a first-team All-American at Wichita State this past season after winning seven times. (He claimed 12 titles over his final two seasons.) Despite that success, his pro career didn’t get off to a sterling start –?an 86 in his PGA Tour debut at the Travelers Championship –?but he’s in good shape now. Garza is in the mold of recent Kodak Challenge winner Troy Merritt –?a player who won a ton at a mid-major, then made the Q-School finals in his first attempt.

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Aaron Goldberg: Goldberg will be trying to follow in the footsteps of Graham DeLaet, who used the Canadian Tour as a springboard for Q-School success. DeLaet won the ’09 Canadian Tour Order of Merit, then earned his PGA Tour card at Q-School. (He finished 100th on this season’s PGA Tour money list.)?

Goldberg dominated the Canadian Tour this season. He won three times, and finished outside the top 10 only once in nine starts. He set the tour’s single-season earnings mark, with $156,118, and was the only player to earn six figures this season. Goldberg also Monday-qualified and made the cut at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open.

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Jason Kokrak: Kokrak, the medalist at the 2007 U.S. Amateur, was the leading money winner on the eGolf Professional Tour. The long-hitting Xavier product won twice and had six other top 10s in 11 starts. He also tied for 13th in the Nationwide Tour’s South Georgia Classic.

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Danny Lee: Remember him? Lee was supposed to join Rory, Rickie and Ryo as one of golf’s next big things. He won the 2008 U.S. Amateur, then became the youngest winner in European Tour history (a record since eclipsed by Matteo Manassero) when he claimed last year’s Johnnie Walker Classic as an amateur.?

Lee struggled in Europe this season, earning just 88,257 euros in 22 starts, with just one top 25. He finished 159th in the Race to Dubai, and dropped to 455th in the Official World Golf Ranking. On the plus side, he finished seventh in his last start before Q-School, the Kolon Korea Open in October. It was his first top 10 in more than a year.

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Richard Lee: How’s this for a back story: Lee, who grew up in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, dropped out of high school and moved in with a family friend in The Philippines to focus full-time on his golf career. He eventually returned to the U.S. and enrolled at Bellevue Community College before transferring to Washington, where he was an All-American in both seasons as a Husky. Lee turned pro earlier this year, and advanced out of pre-qualifying and two stages of Q-School to earn his spot at Orange County National. He’s playing for more than himself: Lee’s fan club includes his wife, Christine, and daughter, Israella.

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Ben Martin: Not many players get to participate in three major championships before they even turn pro, but Martin did. You may have seen him if you tuned in to the early coverage of the 2009 U.S. Open. Martin was 2 under par for his first 11 holes at Bethpage Black to take the lead before eventually missing the cut. That didn’t turn out to be the highlight of Martin’s year, though. He was runner-up at the U.S. Amateur later that year. He stayed amateur to play this year’s Masters and U.S. Open, missing the cut in both. He finished ninth at this year’s NCAA Championship. It took Martin, a Clemson product, just two starts to earn his first pro win on the eGolf Professional Tour. He made the Q-School finals in his first attempt.

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Pablo Martin: With all the hoopla about European stars not taking up PGA Tour membership, here’s one European Tour winner willing to go through Q-School’s rigors for a U.S. card. Martin won this season’s Alfred Dunhill Championship and the ’07 Portugal Open as an amateur. Martin was the 2006 Golfweek College Player of the Year while at Oklahoma State, but the Spaniard has spent his entire pro career on the other side of the pond. Martin is coming off a 16th-place finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions. He also made the cut at this year’s U.S. Open.

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Michael Thompson: Thompson was one of the country’s top amateurs when he turned pro in 2008: He was runner-up at the ’07 U.S. Am, first alternate for that year’s Walker Cup team, then low amateur at the ’08 U.S. Open (T-29). Thompson struggled shortly after turning pro in ’08, after an agent advised him to change his swing to hit the ball higher.?

Thompson returned to his old swing late last year and found success. He won the money list on both the 2009-10 Hooters Tour Winter Series and ’10 Hooters Tour, and was this year’s Hooters Tour player of the year.

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Dan Woltman: Woltman was one of the top amateurs in the U.S. in 2009, winning the Northeast Amateur and making the quarterfinals at the Western Amateur and the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur, but was a controversial omission from that year’s Walker Cup team. He spent this past season on the eGolf Professional Tour, finishing 29th on the money list.

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