By Ket Taylor

Fifteen years ago, a young golf phenom named Phil Mickelson teed off in the final round of the U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst Resort Course No. 2. He trailed 1991 Open champion Payne Stewart, some 13 years his senior, by just one shot. After finishing the first and second rounds tied for the lead, it appeared that the 29 year-old lefty — then with 13 PGA Tour victories under his belt—was in prime position to capture first Major championship.

Eventually, the ivy-cap-wearing Stewart sank a long par putt at the 18th hole, ensuring that his one-stroke victory and ensuing fist pump would forever occupy a sacred place in golf lore. Just four months later — coming on the heels of his American squad’s epic comeback victory at the 1999 Ryder Cup in Brookline — Stewart was tragically killed when his plane lost cabin pressure and crashed in a deserted South Dakota field.

Mickelson, of course, would be denied a Major title for almost five years — he finally broke through in Augusta in 2004, winning The Masters for the first of three times — but the ‘99 Open was part of the arrival of a new generation of golfers who were becoming household names. Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen each already had or would would win multiple Majors, inspiring legions of young golfers to emulate their aggressive styles and their relentless pursuit of wins.

Now, as the U.S. Open returns to Pinehurst for just the second time since Stewart’s iconic victory, Mickelson, Woods, Els, Singh and Goosen have grown up, and time runs short to add to their legacies. (In Woods’ case, injury and scandal have combined to derail — for now, anyway — his quest to lasso the great Jack Nicklaus’s all-time record of 18 Majors wins, and recent back surgery will keep him sidelined during this year’s Open.)

Like history repeating itself, there are several young guns in this year’s Open field that are primed to usher in a new era of golfing stars. Rory McIlroy, still just 25 years old, enters the tournament with two Major championships on his resume. After a subpar year in 2013 — thanks, in part, to an equipment change — the Irish-born McIlroy has regained his form, recently winning the BMW PGA Championship and moving up to No. 6 on the Official Golf World Ranking.

Right behind him at No. 7 is 26 year-old Jason Day, who has finished in the top 10 at five major tournaments in the last three years. Already with two Tour victories this year, he has a shot to earn the No. 1 world ranking if he finishes first at Pinehurst this weekend.

Amazingly, McIlroy and Day are not alone.

The pair of neophytes has been joined by a cast of young Americans who have earned Tour victories in their early twenties. Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Russell Henley and Billy Horschel have become weekly regulars atop leaderboards. Keegan Bradley and Webb Simpson (both just 28) have already won Majors and played on the 2012 United States Ryder Cup team.

Perhaps none of the young stars on Tour are more remarkable, though, than its youngest — Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth.

In his first year on tour, Matsuyama has four top-10s in 15 events, breaking through for his first career win two weeks ago at The Memorial against one of the strongest fields in golf. After a week off, the 22-year-old will play at Pinehurst, but Mickelson & Co. shouldn’t bank on the rookie succumbing to nerves—Matsuyama finished in the top-10 at both the U.S. Open and British Open Championships in 2013.

After turning pro at the start of the 2013 season at age 19, Speith wasted no time in capturing his first Tour victory — his win at the John Deere Classic made him the first teenage Tour winner since 1931, and the fourth-youngest winner in the history of the PGA Tour. Now through his first calendar year as a professional golfer, Spieth already has six top-10 finishes to his credit, having narrowly missed becoming the youngest player to ever win The Masters in the process. The Dallas native has shown a remarkable knack for withstanding pressure, leading many pundits to predict Speith’s first Major championship win is both imminent and inevitable.