T

he 2013-14 season represents the PGA Tour'€™s first year to year wraparound schedule as a boon for America'€™s finest.

Only five of the 28 events concluded have been won by international players. Americans Jimmy Walker, Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed all have multiple wins with Walker owning three impressive wins to his credit.

Watson'€™s 2014 resume includes the Masters Tournament, the season'€™s first major championship, while the 23-year-old Reed bagged the prestigious WGC Cadillac Championship. Conspicuously missing from the winners circle is the ailing Tiger Woods, who is recuperating after back surgery.

By this time last year he had posted four huge wins including the Players Championship. Ailing along with Tiger'€™s absence since the WGC Cadillac Championship has also been TV ratings.

Love him or hate him Woods is still by far the main draw in global golf. Notwithstanding the talent that is on tour, television audiences sigh a collective yawn when Woods is not in the field.

Speaking of international players, Jason Day of Australia won the Match Play event in February and his fellow countryman John Senden captured the Valspar Championship in March.

The remaining international victories belonged to 23-year-old South Korean Noh Seung-yul who won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, German Martin Kaymer who took the notable Players Championship and Adam Scott of Australia who captured the Crowne Plaza Invitational.

Despite talk regarding the international nature of the game, the results certainly don'€™t bear it. The overwhelming majority of players on tour are American and the victories have followed suit.

What'€™s even more incredible is the fact that the most impressive player on tour hasn'€™t even won as of yet. That honor also belongs to an American Jordan Speith, who'€™s only 20.

He had threatened to break Woods'€™ record of being the youngest person to win the Masters when he finished tied for second at the major in April.

He'€™s delivered six top 10 finishes on this tour, including two second place finishes and a fourth place finish at the legendary Players Championship.

All this is from a person who'€™s not even old enough to drink beer in America. The season and future look spectacularly bright for Speith. One note of caution is the young lad has already played 17 events so far this year and that is a blistering schedule even for a 20-year-old phenomenon.

When asked about his energy level during the Crowne Plaza Invitational, the young Speith responded, '€œThe weather is obviously getting warmer and warmer, which wears on you each day. But you just try to limit the number of balls that you'€™re maybe hitting and focus on your rest and your workouts to make sure everything is staying solid. You'€™ve got to drink a lot of water out here in Texas.'€

Golf seems easy to Walker these days judging from his recent comments after the first round of the same event.

'€œThere was a good vibe in the whole group. It was very calm and mellow and nobody was too high, nobody was too low. Everybody stayed pretty even keel. It was a good time,'€ he said.

The upcoming second major of the year, the US Open at Pinehurst in North Carolina, should prove to be the test of all tests this year.

Walker, Watson, Reed and Speith are all contending at the event along with a bevy of international players. Will the '€œAmerican season'€ extend into a domination of the major championships? We will have to see. The June heat, sandy wastelands off slick fairways and unthinkable major championship pressure will all blend to create the perfect challenge.

Watson on the other hand is looking forward to the US Open at Pinehurst. As early as last year during the US Open at Merion, he commented about Pinehurst.

'€œIt will be fun, I'€™ve heard great things about it but difficult things about it. I look forward to the challenge, I can'€™t wait for the challenge. [A win at] Pinehurst would be a bonus.'€

It would be Watson'€™s third win in a season, a feat he has never accomplished on tour. More importantly, adding a second consecutive major championship victory would catapult Bubba into achieving something that only Woods has accomplished over the last 17 years '€” winning multiple majors in a single season.

The one exception to the American dominance is the fact that Adam Scott of Australia is now ranked number one in the world, aided somewhat by the absent Woods.