Flicking the channels recently I landed on KAYO and The Race To Dubai event, the season-ending tournament on the European Tour. And right in the finish before placing in the top five was 44-year-old Australian Adam Scott.
After arguably one of the most consistent seasons of his celebrated career, Scott was still doing his thing and doing it very well at that.
And while I certainly hold no grudge, memories came flooding back as I was reminded it was the same Adam Scott who helped end my career way back when. Maybe it’s best to qualify that statement, he least helped me decide that it was time to perhaps find a more secure way of making a dollar, other than playing golf for a living.
It was at the 2000 Australian PGA, played at Royal Queensland, the year Robert Allenby won. Allenby would back up and win a year later as well.
However, as good as Robert was back in his prime, it was a relatively unknown kid at the time who helped determine my immediate future.
Hitting balls on the range at RQ in the days leading up to the PGA Championship, a tallish, skinny youngster parked his bag next to mine, emptied his bucket of range balls, before going through his practice routine.
He had been at University in the US, had just turned pro, but whoever he was and whatever he’d been doing, I had no choice other than to be impressed. The ball striking, the skill level, the confidence, the superstar quality was evident.
Watching the excellence of everything he was doing, with every club in the bag, I knew I was done, no longer had the game to compete with the young guns of the day and was happy to move aside for the next generation, although he would have quickly left me in wake whatever I decided to do. This sweet swinging kid from Queensland was destined for greatness.
Adam Scott would win the US Masters, the first Australian to do so, 14 PGA Tour events, along with a collection of other significant championships around the globe. And after 24-odd years as a professional, he’s still doing it and doing it well.
He finished fourth on the final standings of the PGA Tour’s FED EX Cup this year and was ranked in the top 20 in the world after an outstanding 2024 season. Scott shows no sign of slowing up.
Now this isn’t all about Adam Scott, and not for a minute am I suggesting his time has come, however there is a new generation of Australian stars ready, willing and able to take the golfing world by storm.
We could have put a bunch of them on the cover of this December issue but picked out Elvis Smylie and Jack Buchanan. I’d heard of Smylie before his recent win at the WA Open, seen Mike Clayton take an interest in his game, carrying his bag on occasion in big Australian events. Buchanan was a new one.
A South Australian kid, with a powerful swing which belies his slight build, he’s already displayed an ability to win and to get the job done when the pressure is at its greatest.
Two more climbing the charts with a bullet are Phoenix Campbell and Jak Carter, Campbell winning a spectacular playoff against Carter at the Queensland PGA, who has now been twice a runner up on the Australasian Tour in 2024.
And there are many more. Jasper Stubbs has played at the Masters already after winning the Asia Pacific Amateur, Quinn Crocker an impressive rookie is currently navigating his way through the US Tour school, Karl Vilips after four years at Stanford University, then following a strong season on the Korn Ferry in 2024 will play his first year on the PGA Tour in 2025. They look to be the real deal. That’s naming just a few. Then there are a bunch of exciting young amateurs timing their run before entering the pay-for-play ranks. Men and women, boys and girls, with the promise and potential to be challenging for the biggest titles in world golf.
Then there are those who have already made an impression overseas, with David Micheluzzi a solid performer in his first full season in Europe, and it’s easy to forget Min Woo Lee is just 26 years of age, while Cam Davis and Lucas Herbert aren’t much older.
We have great courses, coaches to compare with the very best, junior and development programs the envy of the world, all combining to give our best youngsters a chance to succeed.
Keep on keeping on Adam, by no means am I suggesting your best days are behind you, but you are about to have some company.
The new crop of ‘next gen’ stars are long, strong, fearless, extremely talented and very ambitious. You can read about some of them on the pages to follow. I look forward with great interest to watching their progress.
Get in touch
If you have an opinion on this or any other topic in the magazine, send your letter to the editor to rob@insidegolf.com.au and you’ll be in the running to win a gripping prize.
An amateur standout, winning the NSW Amateur and Australian Medal in 1988, before going down in the final of the 1990 Australian Amateur Championship, Rob Willis turned professional in 1992, playing the Australasian and Asian Tours, with his highlight being his victory in the 1995 Dubai Creek Open and third placing at the European Tour's Dubai Dessert Classic. A former Editor of Golf Australia Magazine, Willis, who ventured away from golf for a period to be the media manager for the NRL's Cronulla Sharks, has been a contributor to PGA Australia's PGA Magazine for over a decade and for Inside Golf since its first edition back in 2005. 
