Today's young guns on TOUR: Talented, fearless, engaging

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Young, fearless players like Dustin Johnson have dominated the storylines in 2010.

Today's questions class, in no certain order:

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When are losers really big-time winners?

When does close-but-nothing-yet translate into market upticks?

And, finally, can a bunch guys who either haven't won majors or who have crashed and burned in one or two really morph into superstars?

To answer all the above, you need look no further than the PGA Championship. Yes, less than 48 hours ago when the kids were kicking up dust all over Whistling Straits and an unintentional grounding call turned chaos into serious popularity.

You could say all this happened overnight, but you'd be wrong. This isn't about Dustin Johnson's mistake in the bunker. Or the more than half-dozen Facebook pages that sprung up -- most in support of him -- faster than you could search. Or the tweets, which haven't stopped.

This is about a long, lanky guy whose hands are big enough to palm a basketball. A guy who enjoys a pinch between his cheek and gum. A player with serious game who blew up in the final round at Pebble Beach and lost a chance to win the PGA on ruling. A quiet kid with a soul patch, who draws everyone in. Even LPGA star Christina Kim, who dream-tweeted about him this weekend.

Like we said, attention. But it doesn't start and stop with social networks.

Johnson is just one of a group of kids -- for lack of a better term -- that has us talking as much, if not more, about them than Tiger Woods.

DJ. Rory McIlroy. Bubba Watson. Rickie Fowler. Nick Watney. Ryo Ishikawa. Anthony Kim.

They've stepped up and grabbed the spotlight from still-pretty-young major champs like Lucas Glover and the fashionable trio of Adam Scott, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter. They've cut into our talk time about Tiger and Phil Mickelson.

But most of all they've captured our attention -- and imagination -- because they're not crafting their images. They know the most powerful image they can have is just being themselves. And they are as seriously comfortable in their own skins as player twice their age.

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Rory Mcilroy had two top-fives in majors this week.

Mcilroy embraces his mop-headed curls and his nickname -- Rors. Fowler plays to his strength, looks great in his head-to-toe Smurf Blue or Sunday orange and draws crowds they way the Jonas brothers do. Bubba loves his pink driver shafts and pink socks as much as AK embraces his belt buckles. Watney is the quiet, who imploded Sunday, but give him time. He'll be back.

Yes, they have powerful games with drives that fly 300-something yards and scores that dip into the low 60s. And they're fearless. They play to win, like Bubba said Sunday afternoon. They don't look back. They learn and move forward.

Take Johnson, who came back from his debacle at Pebble in June to contend at the PGA. Or McIlroy, who told us all we needed to know in his final two rounds at St. Andrews when he came back from a horrendous second round to finish tied for third. Well, almost. He backed it up last weekend with another tie for third that might have been a spot in the playoff if only a couple of putts had fallen.

They're as engaging when they don't win as when they do. And while they may seem a bit to carefree or edgy to some, they realize that part of playing this game at the highest level is, indeed, having fun.

You can follow the adventures of Rickie and Bubba on Twitter. They challenge each other and post videos of themselves doing 360s on tricycles and jumps on Razor scooters. McIlroy, AK and Ryo are as comfortable as can be in front of a crowd -- of people or cameras.

They're accessible and honest. Don't call them outspoken, rather understand they simply speak -- or tweet -- their minds. Bubba chirped at the camera Sunday afternoon walking down a fairway; both he and Rickie take time to answer their followers -- seems they learned something, indeed, from Stewart Cink.

And they handle the tough moments as well, if not better, than the veterans.

They're the new faces of the game -- as well as the faces of a new age in the game.

It doesn't seem that long ago, does it, that Greg Norman exploded onto the scene -- blond hair flying in the breeze, big swing and bigger personality taking the game by storm. Guys wanted his power off the tee; women just wanted to see him up close.

Same goes for Tiger Woods and his Hello World moment. Or Sergio Garcia and that youthful leap and grin.

Today, there's Rickie and Rory's grins. Bubba and Dustin's power off the tee. AK, period.

They've captured our attention. It won't be long until they're capturing majors too.

So sit back and enjoy.

As Bubba says "ur welcome."

Melanie Hauser is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM and can be reached at melaniehauser@gmail.com. Her views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.