Rolex New Guard to the fore

IT was pro-am day at the 1996 Dunhill Cup at St Andrews course in Scotland. Only months into the game, and at near-50 - just a few months short of the age in which Rolex Testimonee Phil Mickelson won the recent PGA Championship - I was extremely nervous as a beginner, two hours prior to my standing on the first tee box on the historic course for the pro-am event.

So I decided to take in an hour's practice at the driving range in the morning. Suddenly a massive crowd accompanied Mickelson (in the three-man U.S. team) to the range and watched him go through his routine. He was only two bays away from me, and I blushed every time he hit a pitching wedge to around the same distance as to where my golf balls were landing following three-wood shots.

So I packed up with embarrassment and joined the watching fans. When he had finished his routine, I managed to sneak in one question to "Lefty". He had a one-word answer: "Practice". And he said after his recent PGA event victory, "you have to work hard".

The Rolex New Guard which comprises young Rolex Testimonees Cameron Champ, Joaquin Niemann and Matthew Wolff looks set to light up the competition this year. They are tipped to follow in the hallowed footsteps of Rolex's Testimonees and the sport's greats such as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson. Born in the 1990s, these prodigiously-talented golfers are making their mark on the professional scene and qualified among 156 players for the U.S. Open.

Long-hitting American Cameron Champ, who turns 26 on June 15, has already recorded two PGA Tour wins (Sanderson Farms Championship in Oct 2018 with a 21-under total and the Safeway Open in Sept 2019 on minus-17).

Joaquin Niemann, the 22-year-old Chilean, who topped the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 44 weeks, also captured his first professional win in September 2019.

And another American, the former college champion Matthew Wolff, 22, who won his first PGA Tour event - the 3M Open, in July 2019 - by beating Collin Morikawa and fellow Rolex Testimonee Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke at 21-under after a six-under 65 on the final day, is another promising golfer to look out for.

A name to note is Victor Perez, a new Rolex Testimonee who's born in the nineties. The 28-year-old Frenchman who has his residence in St Andrews, Scotland, is world-ranked 34th. After a successful amateur career culminating as runner-up at the 2014 Eisenhower Trophy (World Golf Championship) behind Jon Rahm, he graduated from New Mexico University in 2015 before turning professional.

He won the 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews during his first season on the European Tour and won twice on the Challenge Tour earlier in his career. He was semi-finalist at the 2021 WGC Dell Technologies Match Play Championship on the PGA TOUR and is currently qualified for the European Ryder Cup Team.