Who would you root for down the stretch in a Major – grizzled veteran or rising star?

Sport is generally about youth, athleticism and power. The latter two wane as age increases, meaning competitors in most sports have a shelf life. Golf is a little different. While relative youth and power undoubtedly hold considerable sway, the guile, experience and wisdom of age also come into play, further aided by the agedefying benefits of modern equipment. Most weeks on tour, players nudging 50, or even tip-toeing over it, are still going at it hammer and tongs with others still in their teens – an age difference of 30+ years, with players at either end capable of winning.

One of golf’s greatest strengths is that you can play from nappy to bus pass and beyond, making victory against Father Time a realistic possibility. This unique aspect surely makes it easier to root for golf’s grizzled veterans than its rising stars. The latter have their whole careers before them and will get plenty more chances; the former are staging a last hurrah. Okay, it wasn’t a Major, but surely most golf fans (other than Italians) were rooting for Richard Bland over Guido Migliozzi in last year’s British Masters? And just a week later,

Phil Mickelson did finally land the first Major for the over-50s at nearly 51 years of age. I doubt anyone watching the USPGA was rooting for any of the younger bucks also in contention.

Go back another 12 years and another American so nearly got the job done at almost 60 years of age in the Turnberry Open. Also in the mix, and suffering an almost identical 72nd-hole fate, was 21-year-old Chris Wood in his first full season. Bogey there cost him a play-off spot. Victory for Wood would have been a fairytale in its own right. But few were rooting for anything other than Tom Watson matching Harry Vardon’s record six wins for the unlikeliest golfing fairytale of all.

I’ll start by saying that, as an established golf fan, I love to see Major heroics from older players. Jack’s Masters in ’86, Watson’s near-miss at Turnberry in ’09 and Mickelson’s masterclass at Kiawah last year are among the great moments in our game’s history.

But, as a golf lover, what I really ‘root for’ is the ongoing success and popularity of the sport. That is why I would support the rising star down the stretch in a Major ahead of my favourite grizzled veteran.

Success for the rising star brings golf to a new generation. It means change and progress and growth. When Arnie and Jack came to the fore in the 1950s and ’60s, golf’s popularity boomed. The young Seve moved the needle for golf in Europe in the late ’70s and ’80s. And then there was Tiger, whose explosion on to the golfing stage sent the sport stratospheric.

Remember the early days of Woods’ career? Every time he teed it up in the late ’90s, the golfing and wider sporting populations assumed a position on the edge of their seats to watch the emergence of a true sporting legend.

The prospect of seeing talent like that again is another reason to support the rising star down the stretch… Could this be the first of many Majors? Is this player going to one day join the pantheon of greats? It’s opportunity, it’s untold possibility and I couldn’t root against that in favour of an old-timer’s last hurrah.

The young, unbridled rising star plays golf without inhibition or fear. We know this game is one of fragility and failure, but their youthful poise belies that inexorable truth – perhaps they’ll be the first to play like this forever. That’s why I root for the brave and hopeful youngster. I root for golf’s future.