I took videos of two players hitting balls on the range at PGA Tour Q-School (the last one ever!). Turns out they’re both young international rising stars that you should keep your eye on. 20-year-old South Korean Meen Whee Kim (who prefers to be called “Whee”) and 21-year-old Frenchman Romain Wattel are making their first start at Q-school finals.
In the spirit of the gossip magazine meme: Who Wore It Best? (Guys, despite your attempt to feign ignorance, I know a lot of you are familiar with it.) So, I ask, who swings it best? Or better? THIS IS LIKE GOLF PORN.
First, here’s Wattel:
Next, here’s Kim:
Kim’s swing is mechanically very sound. It doesn’t get much better. (Or you can hear me at the end saying, dryly, “Yeah, that’s kinda nice.”)
After I watched Whee at second stage, I raved about him, so I wanted to share a video of his swing with you everyone. Plus, you won’t catch it on TV since Golf Channel isn’t broadcasting finals for the first time since 1994, which really sucks, especially since this is the last year under the current traditional system–wah!
Kim and Wattel both have pretty darn sweet swings — obviously, most of the guys at Q-school finals have great swings, but there are always a few that stand out more than others.
Wattel, who notched four top-tens on the European Tour in 2012, played in second stage at Bear Creek GC and then went to Dubai to play in the DP World Championship. Following Sunday’s final round, he hopped on a plane back to California to try and earn his PGA Tour card through the grueling six-round final stage.
Wattel was the last player to arrive in the 172-player field. Three other guys also competed in Dubai: Rafael Cabrera-Bello, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Alex Noren, who also had to get through second stage.
Forget jetlag or fatigue — oh, the wonders of youth! — Wattel shot five-under on the Nicklaus Tournament Course to open the week. I’m about 95% sure he either didn’t see the course before playing it or just walked it. Since he got there late on Monday, he only had time to play one full practice round on the Stadium Course (which is more tricky of the two).
Long week, but excellent start. He’s currently tied for 9th. Of course, the top 25 and ties earn their 2013 PGA Tour cards.
Meanwhile, Lee shot a ho-hum four-under 68 at Nicklaus.
Alright, back to the original question: who swings it best? Clearly this is a subjective and fun exercise, so let’s take it to a vote!
Recent Tweets
whee gets my vote all day. wattel’s looks very repeatable, but a little flat looking if we’re gonna be picky!
The Whee man gets my vote.
Whee, for sure. Wattel’s a short-hitter, no? Swing barely generates any momentum.
I’m going with Whee. That swing is pure.
Currently I have one criteria for who swings it best – “Which ones looks more like Rory’s swing?” But lets face it, I have a man crush on Rory’s swing; yes, I would like to take it to dinner and get to know it better….but I digress. Neither one of these look like Rory’s swing as his lower body and left leg action are unique, but anyway, in the MEEN WHEE KIM swing I see similarities to the early Tiger Woods swing (see 97 Masters Swing), it is pretty upright, and the left leg snaps and hips turn to generate power. The other guy Wattel seems like his just swinging to avoid a slice, like a Jim Furyk swing without the unnecessary loop.
Whee’s swing looks nothing like Tiger’s 1997 swing. When Tig crushed everyone at the Masters in ’97, he had a very shallow hip turn, sawed-off backswing, across-the-line clubshaft at the top, and steep downswing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k04JEdunuGs
Circa 2000 Tig was flatter and had a deeper hip turn, but still had relatively steep downswing plane for a golfer his height:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npcdJaYOEKo
Only when get to late 2000s/Pre-Scandal Tig do we see a “Haney flat” plane and completely neutral clubface (i.e. a very Whee-like swing):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jp1BvVQbUTQ
Of course, I would rather we judge golf swing by the shots they generate, as opposed to the positions or angles they generate; by this metric, Circa 2000 Tig’s swing was the greatest ever.