Best golfers 25 or younger: Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland on best tracks to claim No. 1 in the world status

Morikawa currently sits with the best chance to call himself the best golfer in the world one day

Sungjae Im is nearly two years younger than reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Will Zalatoris and more than a year younger than wunderkind and two-time major winner Collin Morikawa. It often does not feel this way because Im has been a prominent player on the PGA Tour for several years as evidenced by the fact that he won his second Tour event in his 100th PGA Tour start on Sunday at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

We tend to evaluate a player's age by how long they have been in our lives. Zalatoris, even though he's significantly older (in sports years) than Im seems younger because we have spent less time with him. Im has played at the highest level -- and often -- ffor several years now which, like players such as Matthew Wolff (22) and Joaquin Niemann (22), belies his actual age. Justin Ray summed it up well in this tweet

There are a number of different ways to look at this, and the first is the most obvious. Im is still super young and has a ton of growing to do until he becomes fully formed as a PGA Tour contender. The stats would back this up. Im's strokes gained on approach shots and off the tee have improved season over season during the stretch from 2019-2021. That implies a higher ceiling than what he's reached.