IN FOCUS GOLF'S YOUNG GUNS: PHILIP REIDsays Rory McIlroy is just one of a growing list of obviously gifted young players who are threatening to take the golfing world by storm

LET’S CALL them Generation X, a new breed of golfers – from all over the globe – who strut their stuff on the fairways with a sense of style and an ability to win. Back in 2007, when the Walker Cup was held at Royal County Down, all of our eyes were on a certain Rory McIlroy and, for sure, he has delivered big time. As Pádraig Harrington will tell you, “he is the real deal.”

But McIlroy, ranked number nine in the world and of course a breakthrough winner on the US Tour with his success in the Quail Hollow Championship earlier this month, is not a lone case. He has company: Ryo Ishikawa . . . . Matteo Manassero . . . .Noh Seung-yul . . . . and Rickie Fowler, an American with a penchant for wearing orange clothing – fast becoming his trademark – on the course and who, let’s remember, was also on Walker Cup duty at RCD that September.

If, last year, it seemed Tom Watson’s rolling back of the years at the British Open in Turnberry had us wondering what the new kids on the block were up to, this year has provided us with the answers and proof that this next era of swingers is as talented and as exciting as any that has gone beforehand. They all have that so-desired X-factor.

While McIlroy’s path to golfing stardom was mapped out from the time he first appeared on Gerry Kelly’s television show on UTV – as a 10-year-old – and proceeded to hit a succession of golf balls into the drum of a washing machine, Fowler’s route to golf came quite differently. In fact, his first sporting love was motocross and golf only became a priority after he swapped his dirt bike for the fairways as a 14-year-old.

A “rookie” on the PGA Tour this season, Fowler’s impact has been hugely impressive. He is colourful and, like all of the other younger players, has the obligatory giant-sized belt buckle. If you’re wondering why his fashion sense is a colour-coded one based on orange, it is to do with Oklahoma State Cowboys, his alma mater.

He’s more than a clothes horse, though. He can play too, as emphasised by his rise up the world rankings from 249th at the start of the year to a current position of 53rd. Fowler has had four top-10s so far in his rookie year on tour, including a runner-up finish to Ben Crane in the Phoenix Open.

“I’m not exactly the traditional golfer. I didn’t grow up at a country club. I’m just a kid that grew up at a driving range (who) used to beat buckets of balls,” remarked Fowler earlier this season, adding: “Sometimes people give me a hard time about the hair, the hats are too big, they’re flopping over my ears, stuff like that. But it’s what I’m doing. It’s kind of my own style. I’m not going to change just because one person doesn’t like it. I’ll just keep doing my own thing.”

Fowler’s arrival is like a breath of fresh air to American golf but he and McIlroy – at 21 – are the older hands in a game that is increasingly becoming a conveyor belt of young talent with a lean towards the Far East where Ishikawa, aka “The Bashful Prince”, is the real trendsetter in a group of Asian players that also includes another teenager Noh Seung-yul, from South Korea, and Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil.

Ishikawa, who shot that final round 58 to win the Crowns Tournament on the Japan Tour on the same day that McIlroy claimed his maiden US Tour win in Quail Hollow, is the new force and the new face of golf in Asia. Just 18-years-old, Ishikawa so impressed Greg Norman that he was selected on the International team for the Presidents Cup last year, a season where he won four times on the Japan Tour. At the year-end Japan Golf Tour dinner, Ishikawa received no fewer than nine awards.

At the Presidents Cup, American Kenny Perry played Ishikawa three times – and lost the lot. “He’s very calm, very mature for an 18-year-old. He lives in that world, there’s so much media and cameras around this kid. I couldn’t do it.”

Unlike McIlroy, however, Ishikawa has yet to win out of his comfort zone: in his case, the Japan Tour. So, although he has risen to 40th in the world, there is a belief the Japanese sensation must expand into a global player to fulfil his full potential.

The picture in Asia is particularly rosy, as demonstrated by the victory of teenager Noh Seung-yul in the Malaysian Open – a co-sanctioned tournament on the European Tour and the Asian Tour – and the emergence of Thailand’s Phadungsil, already a three-time winner on the Asian Tour.

Kyi Hla Han, the head of the Asian Tour, believes the upcoming crop of Asian players can become dominant on a global scale.

“I think in the future Asian players are going to start becoming major contenders before they are 30. Players like Jeev (Milkha Singh) and Thongchai (Jaidee) didn’t have as much opportunity when they were young as the players do now. The players are maturing earlier and winning, not just learning the ropes. I’d like to see them become major forces in world golf by their mid-20s. We don’t just have a few players, there are a number.

“There are about 20 players under 23 who have that potential. We’ve never had that before.”

If these young golfing titans need a reminder as to how things can turn, they need look no further than Ty Tryon. Remember him? He became, at 16, the second youngest player to make the cut on the US Tour when he did so at the 2001 Honda Classic and came through Q-school to win his full tour card for 2002, forcing a subsequent change in the PGA rules to ensure a minimum age of 18 to play the tour full-time.

Tryon showed up at tour events with a huge entourage comprising an agent, a swing coach, an image consultant, a psychologist, a yoga instructor and a massage therapist. Unfortunately, for all the hype, Tryon failed to walk the walk and fell off the main tour on a downward spiral to the Nationwide Tour, the Hooters Tour and eventually a host of mini-tours. His is a salutary lesson to all of the young guns of how it can go horribly wrong.

Rickie Fowler

Country: United States.

Age: 21

World Ranking: 53

Why is he so good? Has made a seamless transition from the amateur game to the pro ranks since turning professional after last September’s Walker Cup, with two runner-up finishes to his name already on the US Tour. Is long and accurate – only question mark is over his putting.

Noh Seung-yul

Country: South Korea.

Age: 18.

World Ranking: 112.

Why is he so good? Turned pro as a 17-old and impacted immediately, winning the China Classic on the Asian Tour and claimed three runners-up finishes and six other top-10s in a season where he was named “rookie of the year”.

Brilliantly creative around the greens.

Ryo Ishikawa

Country: Japan.

Age: 18.

World Ranking: 40

Why is he so good? Won his first tournament on the Japan Tour as a 15-year-old amateur – the KSB Cup in 2007 – and became the first player in history to shoot 58 on one of the world’s major tours, when winning the Crowns Tournament earlier this month.

Rory McIlroy

Country: Northern Ireland.

Age: 21.

World Ranking: 9.

Why is he so good? Is the owner of arguably the purest golf swing in the game. Hits it longer and straighter than anyone, and is fearless down the stretch.

Matteo Manassero

Country: Italy.

Age: 17.

World Ranking 430.

Why is he so good? Became the youngest ever winner of the British Amateur last year and has now embarked on a professional career. In terms of golf swing, think Bernhard Langer rather than Seve Ballesteros – he isn’t the longest off the tee, but he is straight and has an excellent short game.