MILWAUKEE -- Quick, name the only two Americans to finish in the top 10 at the U.S. Open.
They were Kevin Chappell and Robert Garrigus, who tied for third at Congressional Country Club on Sunday.
It's a great trivia question, one that is sure to stump all but the most avid golf fan someday, if it doesn't already. But there's nothing trivial about the way international golfers are dominating the game.
With 22-year-old Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland storming to an eight-shot victory at the U.S. Open, the last five major championships have been won by non-Americans, the first time that has happened since the inaugural Masters in 1934.
International players have won three of the last four Masters, six of the last eight U.S. Opens, three of the last four British Opens and the last three PGA Championships.
McIlroy and countryman Graeme McDowell are the first back-to-back winners of the U.S. Open from the same country (other than the U.S.) since 1920-'21.
Europeans now hold the top four spots in the Official World Golf Ranking; only three of the top 10 and 12 of the top 41 are U.S.-born.
And here's something even more startling: Only one American under the age of 33 has more than three career victories on the PGA Tour and only one has won a major. Dustin Johnson turns 27 on Wednesday and has four victories, but perhaps is best known for blowing two majors in 2010. Lucas Glover, 31, won the 2009 U.S. Open.
Perhaps it's time to ask. What's wrong with American golf?
"I think it's just a cycle," said Steve Stricker of Madison. "You'll see Europeans dominate for a while and you'll see Americans get back in the mix of things. Right now European golf is pretty strong. They've got a lot of young players and they've got a lot of good players. So do the Americans. But it's getting to that next level for a lot of Americans and winning majors and building confidence.
"Right now Europeans have got that top rung and they're playing great."
It's not just Europeans. Y.E. Yang of Korea won the 2009 PGA and South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel are the reigning British Open and Masters champions, respectively.
It just goes to show how skewed things were when Tiger Woods dominated golf from 1997 to 2008. Seven international players finished runner-up to Woods in his 14 major championship victories during that span. Woods and Phil Mickelson, who have combined for 110 victories and 18 majors, basically have masked a lack of American depth.
Tiger effect
With Woods hurting and reeling -- not to mention 35 years old -- the time is ripe for young Americans to step up and start winning, but none has done so, at least not on a consistent basis. The only Americans under 30 with more than two victories are Johnson, Hunter Mahan, Anthony Kim and Sean O'Hair.
Not counting Woods, every American with more than 10 victories -- Mickelson, Davis Love III, Stricker, Jim Furyk, David Toms and Justin Leonard -- is older than 40, except Leonard, who is 39 but has slipped to No. 192 in the world ranking.
Meanwhile, young international players have been hoarding the majors. McIlroy is 22. Schwartzel is 26. Martin Kaymer of Germany was 25 when he won the 2010 PGA and Oosthuizen was 28 when he won the 2010 British Open.
Rickie Fowler, a charismatic player with an attack-the-pin style, generally is considered to be America's great young hope. Fowler, 22, has 11 top-10 finishes in 51 career starts and three times has finished second. But he has yet to win and missed the cut at the U.S. Open.
Johnson has a ton of ability but so far hasn't backed up a breakout 2010 season in which he won twice, should have won the U.S. Open and could have won the PGA.
It's too early to dismiss three-time winner Anthony Kim, 26, who hasn't regained form since undergoing surgery to repair a ligament in his thumb; or three-time winner Sean O'Hair, 28, who is in the throes of a slump.
Rising stars
Some talented amateurs could make their marks within a few years. Everyone is high on Peter Uihlein, who will attempt to defend his U.S. Amateur title at Erin Hills in August. Patrick Cantlay, 19, just finished his freshman season at UCLA and tied for 21st at the U.S. Open. And Russell Henley, 22, became the second amateur to win a Nationwide Tour event this year and tied for 42nd at the Open.
"I'm actually very encouraged with where our American golfers are, especially the young players," Mickelson said last week. "We have a plethora of great players coming up. . . . We've got some really good young, talented players coming up through the ranks and I think we're going to be very competitive in the team events.
"But it's obvious that world golf as a whole has become so much stronger and that international and European golf has become world-class and top-notch. So although international golf has really taken off, American golf is still in very good shape."
Mickelson could be right. But McIlroy and 23-year-old Jason Day of Australia, the U.S. Open runner-up, are going to be harder to beat going forward, not easier. It will be interesting to see which Americans, if any, are up to the challenge.
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