Not for more than 100 years have there been as many good
professional golfers from England as there are now. You have to go back to the
days of the professionals J.H. Taylor, one of the Great Triumvirate, and Jack
White, along with Harold Hilton, the amateur from Royal Liverpool, to find so
many good golfers emerging from good old Blighty at the same time.
Since then, English golf has had its share of champions, but
they were mostly singular efforts: Max Faulkner, Peter Alliss and Tony Jacklin
come to mind. Now, 10 years after Nick Faldo won the last of his six majors at
the 1996 Masters, a sextet of young English players is vying to take its place
atop the golf world, more emphatically than at any time since the turn of the
20th century. Land of Hope and Glory is their anthem, St. George their patron
saint, London, city of black taxis and red buses, their capital.
Leading the group is Luke Donald, who won the Honda Classic
in March. He is followed by Paul Casey, who like Donald, was schooled in England
but polished at a U.S. university. Nick Dougherty is the youngest of the group
and plies his trade on the European Tour. David Howell is the most easy-going.
Justin Rose, who was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, but grew up in southern
England, was the first to come to national attention when he finished fourth in
the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale, a few days before his 18th birthday. Rounding
out the group is Ian Poulter, who is becoming as well known for his peacock
sense of dress and his hairstyles as his overwhelming self-belief and his daring
playing style.
All are young; all are climbing quickly. Just six years ago,
England had just two men among the top 100 in the world, Faldo and Jamie Spence.
As of May 2006, 11 Englishmen were in the top 100. But the future lies with this
group of six.
“I think that once one or two players start playing well it
kind of drags others along with them,” says Donald, the most successful of the
bunch, ranked 10th in the world. “We look at that and say, ‘Why can’t I do
that?’ It goes in cycles and it makes us raise our game.”
The group’s coming-out party was the 2004 Ryder Cup, where
Donald, Casey, Howell and Poulter helped Europe rout the U.S. Now they are
looking for individual success, which they have experienced at increasingly
higher levels—and most are trying to do so in the U.S. Only Casey and Dougherty
are not PGA Tour members, and even so, Casey lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
No matter where they play, the collective goal is to be the
best in the world. Howell, for example, pulled away from Tiger Woods in the
final round to win the HSBC Champions Tournament last November. “I’m not really
intimidated by anybody,” Howell says. “I’m better than a few and not as good as
a few others. I can stand on the tee with anybody and look them in the eye.”
Howell’s sure attitude exemplifies the group, which could be
described as new English in character rather than old English. Old English
golfers may have damned themselves with faint praise and blushed when praised by
others. New English golfers believe in themselves and don’t mind who knows
that.
Sometimes that can cause trouble, as when Paul Casey made
disparaging comments following the Ryder Cup, saying that he hated the American
team. Still, their approach is one that is needed to reach their high-reaching
goals.
“What we’ve got is a self-belief,” says Poulter, who is
talking just after shooting 68 in the second round of the Players Championship.
“I had a good round today, but I am not here to finish third or fourth or 11th.
I came here to win. I know I’m good enough to do so.” He stares at his
interrogator as speaks, not so much for etiquette but more to get across this
message: “Don’t you dare doubt me.”
