Jack On 11-Year-Old Champs And Managing Young Players

Not that it seems to be an issue based on the 20-year-old phenom's play and stable frame of mind, but this from Brian Wacker's item on Jordan Spieth did catch my eye:

Over the last 72 weeks, he has teed it up 43 of them. Spieth’s passport has filled up along the way with stops in China, Scotland, Panama and Colombia, not to mention tournaments all over this country.

I know, he's 20, he can handle it.

But in light of an 11-year-old qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open, I asked Jack Nicklaus in today's Memorial state of all things press conference what he thought. He was initially quite thrilled for her and even knew the scores she shot and the course Li qualified at (along with her Drive Chip and Putt credentials).

Eventually, he did address the idea of younger players on a big stage at a young age. Here's what he had to say:

But we're getting kids younger in here.  I see ‑‑ I mean, Michelle Wie, I played with her when she was 13.  And I never forget playing ‑‑ we played in Hawaii.  And it was 308 yards to this one bunker.  I took a driver, cut it a little bit to keep it short of it.  She one‑hopped it in the bunker at age 13.  I remember that.

And Lexi Thompson, who has been terrific.  You've got Lydia Ko, I have not seen play, but is quite good.  And I don't know her name, an 11‑year‑old girl, that's pretty fantastic.

But you're getting boys, too.  You're not getting them quite that young.  But we're starting to see Jordan Spieth is 20 years old.  At 20 years old I was trying to figure out ‑‑ I got close in the U.S. Open, but I wasn't even dreaming of competing against the pros at age 20.  He's been competing for two years against them.

And you're going to have a lot of kids that way.  Why, I don't know.  But what was your actual question?

Q.  Knowing how you love tennis, tennis has had a lot of people who were very young and flame out.  Do you worry in golf that the same thing could happen?

JACK NICKLAUS:  Do I worry?

Q.  Well, there's so many young people.

JACK NICKLAUS:  Why would I worry about it?  I don't understand what the worry would be all about.

Q.  Burnout, possibly.

JACK NICKLAUS:  I mean, if you're good enough to play and you beat them ‑‑ all you do is have a little longer retirement. (Laughter).

But the game is ‑‑ you play the game when you can play it.  And I was pretty decent when I was younger.  But I realized that I was going to burn myself out.  That's why I sort of managed my schedule in such a way that I paced myself never to play too much.

I got criticism for not playing too much.  But I think that ‑‑ but it allowed me to play for a long time and allowed me to keep my enthusiasm for the game and didn't burn myself out.

But if you're at 15, 16, 17 years old, you go and start playing professional golf and you start playing 40 tournaments a year, you'll burn yourself out pretty quick.

I think that's really your question.  But I think it's all up to the individual, and certainly how they're really managed, whether they get help from their parents or they get help from a coach or a manager, or just themselves, that they learn how to pace themselves.  I think that's very important.

Nicklaus also talked about Tiger and his prospects following back surgery, making it sound inevitable that Woods will win five more majors with another 10+ years of good golf ahead of him. Woods also called Nicklaus today to wish him luck with the Memorial. Helen Ross on this portion of the discussion.

PGA Tour Entertainment posted a few of the highlights from the Nicklaus session.

The lighter moments, followed by talk of the Memorial's early days.