The decline of American golf

[ABC]

18 of the top 30 at the British Open were Americans.

http://espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard?tournamentId=982

[1972Shocker]

Maybe, but with the exception of the demise of Tiger (and he may very well come back strong yet), I look at it more as the rise of international golf. 18 of the top 30 in the British Open is actually a pretty solid showing.

Golf is not the only sport this phenomenon is impacting. I think you can see this also in basketball and baseball.

[ABC]

Yes, I think the demise has been exaggerated.

[RoyalShock]

The application of "demise" would be more appropriate for tennis.

[1972Shocker]

The application of "demise" would be more appropriate for tennis.

I agree.

[_kai_]

I think the influx of International talent, in all sports, isn't that there is a decline in American talent, I think its a combination of a few factors.

1) Countries across the world are being brought up to date with technological advances that America has had for some time now. Meaning that instead of thinking about how to make a living just to support your family, they can now start to play sports more actively. The amount of people playing baseball and basketball has increased across the globe.

2) American teams are recruiting more heavily internationally, because they're trying to tap into the raw athleticism. Recently the Rays just started a baseball training camp in Brazil, where something like 1% of the population play baseball. They're trying to just teach the game to kids, and hopefully pull raw talent out of that country.

3) Specifically for golf, I think that maybe its just how the cookie crumbles. That it just happens to be coincidence that there are a handful of Golf Phenoms that happen to be from Europe. Because honestly 18 of the top 30 being American is still above 50%. I'd like to see what country is next. I'd also like to see by continent the breakdown is. If you were to say 10 of the top 30 were Americans, I'd definitely have to agree with you.

[ShockerFever]

Re: The decline of American golf

18 of the top 30 at the British Open were Americans.

http://espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard?tournamentId=982

What were the numbers for the US Open?

[ShoxFan963]

Re: The decline of American golf

Considering it was a British Open, which is a completely different game than American golf, the Americans made a good showing.

18 of the top 30 at the British Open were Americans.

http://espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard?tournamentId=982

What were the numbers for the US Open?

17 of the top 30. US Open Leaderboard

[ShockerFever]

Re: The decline of American golf

Considering it was a British Open, which is a completely different game than American golf, the Americans made a good showing.

18 of the top 30 at the British Open were Americans.

http://espn.go.com/golf/leaderboard?tournamentId=982

What were the numbers for the US Open?

17 of the top 30. US Open Leaderboard

Thanks for the link.

If I wanted to skew the facts in the other direction, I could say only 2 of the Top 10 were Americans, which is a bit embarrassing...