T.J.'s Take: Remember to respect your elders

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Here are four guys that could really make an impact on the 2009 PGA TOUR.

It's something you're taught as a child. The phrase is simple, just three words long: Respect your elders.

That's what the younger guys on the PGA TOUR should think long and hard about in 2009.

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There are plenty of "elders" -- and for the record I'm not calling anyone old, that would be disrespectful and my parents taught me better than that -- who could step up and win. We're not talking about the usual suspects either... not Vijay Singh, not Kenny Perry, not Ernie Els.

We're talking about guys who were inspired by players like Stewart Cink and Davis Love III in 2008, competitors who went a significant amount of time between victories.

Guys like David Toms, Brad Faxon, Dudley Hart and Scott McCarron.

That foursome of players has accounted for a total of 25 career victories. However, the latest of those wins came thanks to Toms way back at the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii. That's three full years this week. Or in other terms, too long for those four names to not have their name engraved on some hardware.

Incidentally, the Sony Open is this week. A tournament Toms and Faxon (2001) have both won. Both players are scheduled to tee off on Thursday. Could this be the week they break through?

Aside from the winless droughts of these four players, they have something else in common -- all have missed significant time due to injury, or to tend to family matters.

Toms, the 2001 PGA Champion, had heart surgery for a non-life-threatening ailment after a scary collapse at the 84 Lumber Classic in September of 2005.

Sure, Toms had that win in Oahu shortly after, which was incredible, but hasn't contended a whole lot since.

For Faxon, it's been a couple of unfortunate setbacks. Shortly after his last win at in 2005 at Hartford, Fax had ACL surgery on his right knee and missed the remainder of the season. Finally, knock on wood, Fax underwent ACL and microfracture surgery on his right leg in December 2007 and didn't make his first start of the season until early October of 2008 at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. Subsequently, he missed the cut in all three of his 2008 starts.

In 2009, we all hope to see more of Faxon's sweet putting stroke and less of his basement full of crutches.

As for Hart, what a fitting last name. He didn't miss time because of something that happened to him. Instead, fittingly, lovingly and graciously, he took the majority of the 2007 campaign off to play Mr. Mom. Hart's wife, Suzanne, had a softball-sized mass on her lung, which turned out to be a tumor. She needed surgery to have the tumor and two-thirds of her lung removed... on her birthday no less.

Hart understood it was not only the right thing to do, but his duty, to stay home and care for the couples' young triplets.

In 2008, Hart played under a major-medical extension for a family crisis -- the first of its kind. If he didn't get to play much during his unwanted hiatus, Hart's rust certainly didn't show. He racked up six top-10 finishes and was named PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year.

Finally there's McCarron. A three-time winner on TOUR, McCarron was limited to 15 events in 2006 due to season-ending right elbow surgery on August 16 to repair a torn extensor carpi radialis brevis (muscle that runs from the wrist to the elbow). He was granted a major medical exemption for 2007, but missed the entire season to rehab from the surgery. The exemption carried over to 2008, where McCarron managed to crack the top 125 on the money list (No. 108) to gain full playing privileges for 2009.

As you can see, it's safe to say that none of the obstacles for these four players came as a result of age, it was more misfortune.

Bottom line... Respect these elders on the PGA TOUR in 2009. They're all more than capable of taking a page from the books of Cink and Love.

T.J. Auclair is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.