Here are my Top 10 young players on the European Tour who you need to keep your eye on:
1. Byeong-Hun An - become the first Korean to win the European Tour's Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award. He finished seventh in the 2015 Race to Dubai, capturing the prestigious BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth by six shots and banking three top four finishes in the four Final Series events.
"It’s a once-in-a-lifetime achievement," said An. "I worked very hard for this and played great last season. There were a lot of other good rookie players, so to win the award is very special. The race went down to the final day of the final event, even the last hole. It was so close and I had no idea who was going to get it. I’ve seen the other names who have won this award over the years and I’ve joined a list of great players."
2. Matthew Fitzpatrick - former US Amateur winner, picked up his first win on the European Tour and had ten top 10’s and seven top fives. The kid is just 21 years old and likely to be on Ryder Cup teams in the future. I predict the young Englishman contends in majors in 2016 and beyond and eventually will have a couple of wins in majors.
3. Danny Willett - Plays in Europe so goes unrecognized to most of us, but battled McIlroy to the very end in the Race to Dubai.
4. Victor Dubuisson - The flamboyant Frenchman had some personal issues most of last year, but finished the year off strong with a win in Turkey. Many forget he is only 25 years old.
5. Thomas Pieters - former Illinois standout who won two times on the European Tour last year. Keep your eye on him, very talented player and only going to get better.
6. Andy Sullivan - This dude smiles and smiles all the way to the winners circle. Battled McIlroy all the way to the last hole in the season finale on the European Tour. Also already has three wins on the European Tour.
7. Lucas Bjerregaard - Kind of unknown to most but not on the European Tour, This 24 year old hits it a mile and will thrive in 2016. He is searching for his first win and will get it in 2016.
8. Kiradech Aphibarnrat - Looks like the Pillsbury dough boy but can really, really play. The Thai picked up two wins last year and will be a factor in 2016.
9. Kristoffer Broberg - The young Swede picked up his first win on the European Tour by out-dueling American Patrick Reed at the BMW Masters. He hits it long and showed good course management for a young player.
10. Paul Dunne - A rookie on the European Tour with a lot of talent. You may remember his name from last summer’s Open Championship where he led for most of the first three days before the pressure finally got to him. He is my pick for Rookie of the year.
Bonus - Tommy Fleetwood - He plays well in streaks. Has won win on the European Tour and a ton of good finishes. This is an important year for Fleetwood to see if he’s a contender or a pretender.
The European Tour is in good hands with the talent that they are developing. Who will be the next Rory McIlroy? My money is on Matthew Fitzpatrick - he is a total different player than McIlroy. Fitzpatrick doesn’t hit it overly long, but hits it straight and hits a lot of greens and is a great putter. He has no weaknesses! You will hear his name a lot in 2016.
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