Three Golfers Land On Millennial's Favorite Athletes List

Something called 120 Sports conducted research to determine who the most important people in the world view as their favorite jocks. Besides learning that the 18-34 year olds(ish) are sexist, ageist and likely to favor someone who attended college, they do like three golfers in their top 40.

From the press release, which notes the various predilictions of the precious, vital, and largely indebted demo.

The rankings provide additional insights including:
    •    8 out of the top 10 are 26 years of age or younger
    •    2 out of the top 5 are defending champions in their respective sports
    •    Jonathan Toews, NHL, was the most liked athlete among females
    •    1 female athlete in top 15
    •    70% of the top 10 attended college

The golfers are in italics:

2015 120 Sports Millennials' Athlete Index Top 10
1) Stephen Curry, 26, NBA
2) Mike Trout, 23, MLB
3) Russell Wilson, 26, NFL
4) Kevin Durant, 26, NBA
5) Madison Bumgarner, 25, MLB
6) Aaron Rodgers, 31, NFL
7) J.J. Watt, 25, NFL
8) Andrew Luck, 25, NFL
9) Lionel Messi, 27, La Liga
10) Odell Beckham Jr., 22, NFL
2015 120 Sports Millennials' Athlete Index Top 11-40
11. Alex Morgan, 25, USWNT
12. Damian Lillard, 24, NBA
13. Marcus Mariota, 21, NCAAF
14. Calvin Johnson, 29, NFL
15. Cristiano Ronaldo, 29, La Liga
16. Clayton Kershaw, 26, MLB
17. Jonathan Toews, 26, NHL
18. Patrick Kane, 26, NHL
19. Tom Brady, 37, NFL
20. Tim Howard, 35, USMNT
21. Anthony Davis, 21, NBA
22. LeBron James, 30, NBA
23. Rickie Fowler, 26, PGA TOUR
24. Tim Duncan, 38, NBA
25. Marshawn Lynch, 28, NFL
26. Rob Gronkowski, 25, NFL
27. Giancarlo Stanton, 25, MLB
28. Shaun White, 28, Action Sports
29. Steven Stamkos, 24, NHL      
30. Maria Sharapova, 27, WTA
31. Henrik Lundqvist, 32, NHL
32. Buster Posey, 27, MLB
33. Bubba Watson, 36, PGA TOUR
34. Felix Hernandez, 28, MLB
35. Sidney Crosby, 27, NHL
36. Alexander Ovechkin, 29, NHL
37. Klay Thompson, 24, NBA
38. Russell Westbrook, 26, NBA
39. Peyton Manning, 38, NFL
40. Tiger Woods, 39, PGA TOUR

As for our millennials, Jordan Spieth was left off the list but he doesn't care, he just signed with Under Armour for ten years in a no-brainer bit of loyalty since both sides took a shot when Spieth was an unproven commodity. Nice to see it work out for both sides.

And Rickie just reportedly re-upped with Puma for an unspecified number of years, with Cobra-Puma putting out a fun video featuring cameos both great (Greg Norman) and eye-roll worthy (Rickie's cranky agent Sam MacNaughton).

You have to stay with it to the end for Norman's fun cameo:

Great Read: Andy Sanders And Jimmy Walker

One of 2014's best stories remains the emergence of Jimmy Walker as an elite player and Ted Bishop at his One Shot At A Time blog files a stellar write-up on a key piece of the Walker story--looper Andy Sanders.

Once an aspiring player, Sanders has overcome MS to guide his man to great finishes while flying under the radar.

Back in the 1990’s when Andy Sanders was visiting Franklin, staying with his grandparents and playing golf, it would not have been a surprise to hear his grandmother, Dottie, telling him that someday he would be in the competition at The Masters and Ryder Cup. She was proud of her grandson and she would tell anyone willing to listen how good Andy was going to be. I know because I lived across the street from Dottie on Carriage Lane here in Franklin.

Those predictions did come true, but not in a way that Dottie imagined. Unfortunately she never lived to see Andy enjoy success in golf at the highest level. Sanders was one of the country’s best junior golfers and he attended the University of Houston on a golf scholarship. After college he played on the Nationwide Tour from 2002-04 aspiring to continue his playing career.

Then one day Sanders woke up and experienced a blind spot in his right eye. Initially he thought it was a problem attributed to his contact lenses. Sanders would soon discover that he had Multiple Sclerosis. He tried to fight through the condition and keep on playing. He was receiving muscle injections every other week and eventually he contracted vertigo which was the worst thing that could happen to a golfer.

“My playing career ended because of the medicine, not the MS. Those shots depressed me night and day. They gave me vertigo and losing my balance was the end of my playing career,” recalls Sanders.  “There is no way you can’t look back and have some second thoughts. I made my choices at the time and now I am incredibly fortunate with my family and hopefully I have a great career ahead of me.”  

Bishop goes on to recount how Sanders and Walker ended up working together and other interesting insights into a player-caddie relationship.