Single major or Tour Wins

[HomerJSimpson]

Why is it we always use Westwood or Monty? Do Yanks have this same discussion about any of their Golfers that won plenty on Tour but never a Major?

I guess Rickie Fowler is the obvious one with no majors

 

[Arthur Wedge]

Why is it we always use Westwood or Monty? Do Yanks have this same discussion about any of their Golfers that won plenty on Tour but never a Major?

well they are prob the two most high profile golfers to be at the top level but haven’t won a major - same with Donald

Think Donald and Westwood are the only two golfers to reach No 1 but haven’t won a major

Within the same social media thread was Stricker and Fowler used

 

[Backache]

I'd certainly take Montys, Westwoods or Luke Donalds career over say Todd Hamiltons, Ben Curtis or probably Paul Lawrie.

 

[garyinderry]

Winning a shed load of tour events and not being able to get over the line in a major would eat away at your soul.
You can't buy happiness.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I'd certainly take Montys, Westwoods or Luke Donalds career over say Todd Hamiltons, Ben Curtis or probably Paul Lawrie.

Definitely but I'd always have regrets especially if I had been as close as Monty or Westwood to winning a major

 

[Slab]

So is being world number one seen higher than winning The Open or any major ?

Now if it was for a significant period then maybe but a couple of months ?

That's kinda what I was mulling

They are very similar in their career earnings, both have tour wins but one has more than three times the other, both have RC success, one has a Major (from last century) and lets be honest its not really mentioned except when the Open is back at Troon, the other has a claim to fame of world No1 status (again a fair few years ago)

As @Orikoru says these aren't the two I'd pick to make the career comparison

 

[Hobbit]

Major all day long. No one says if only Monty had won another Order of Merit but there’s been many an occasion when commentators have said if only he’d added a Major to round off his CV.

There’s not many times you hear that xx won the PGA Order of Merit in 2004, but you will hear that Todd Hamilton won the Open that year.

 

[Arthur Wedge]

That's kinda what I was mulling

They are very similar in their career earnings, both have tour wins but one has more than three times the other, both have RC success, one has a Major (from last century) and lets be honest its not really mentioned except when the Open is back at Troon, the other has a claim to fame of world No1 status (again a fair few years ago)

As @Orikoru says these aren't the two I'd pick to make the career comparison

Being an Open champion also gives him entry into The Open - he gets that Claret Jug for 12 months and then a replica, his name is alongside some of the great of the sport, the Open been since 1860 , and other majors later in life , Rankings only around since 86

I’ll take a single major with the Open first then Masters then US Open over a number 1 ranking which as we know over the years is very open in regards the points etc

 

[Imurg]

The chances are that, if you're able to win a Major, you'll be winning on a Tour somewhere...
Curtis won 4 Times on the PGAT, Hamilton won more than $6m on the Japanese circuit so they've won enough to keep the wolf from the door.
Westy may have won twice their combined winnings but.......they've been Champion Golfer of the Year....priceless.

 

[Neilds]

I've mentioned it before on similar threads but I can't get too excited about the term 'Major' They are just another 72 hole stroke play competition played on similar (usually) courses that they play on week in, week out. Grand Slams in tennis are 5 sets as opposed to 3, snooker world champs are a lot longer than than the usual best of 5 matches, Darts World champs are longer matches with more legs, Test Matches are seen as real cricket and cyclists have the Grand Tours which are longer and tougher than the usual races. These types of events are set apart from the norm as they are longer, and therefore harder, than the 'standard' events but golf just puts a strange word in front of 4 events and they suddenly take on mystical status.

Give me tour wins every time

 

[Orikoru]

Ok, Shaun Micheel then - only 3 professional wins and one of them was the 2003 PGA Champs. I don't think I can find an example of anyone that literally just won a major and nothing else.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I've mentioned it before on similar threads but I can't get too excited about the term 'Major' They are just another 72 hole stroke play competition played on similar (usually) courses that they play on week in, week out. Grand Slams in tennis are 5 sets as opposed to 3, snooker world champs are a lot longer than than the usual best of 5 matches, Darts World champs are longer matches with more legs, Test Matches are seen as real cricket and cyclists have the Grand Tours which are longer and tougher than the usual races. These types of events are set apart from the norm as they are longer, and therefore harder, than the 'standard' events but golf just puts a strange word in front of 4 events and they suddenly take on mystical status.

Give me tour wins every time

However the major courses, particularly the Open and the US open are set up to be as difficult as possible

 

[Arthur Wedge]

I've mentioned it before on similar threads but I can't get too excited about the term 'Major' They are just another 72 hole stroke play competition played on similar (usually) courses that they play on week in, week out. Grand Slams in tennis are 5 sets as opposed to 3, snooker world champs are a lot longer than than the usual best of 5 matches, Darts World champs are longer matches with more legs, Test Matches are seen as real cricket and cyclists have the Grand Tours which are longer and tougher than the usual races. These types of events are set apart from the norm as they are longer, and therefore harder, than the 'standard' events but golf just puts a strange word in front of 4 events and they suddenly take on mystical status.

Give me tour wins every time

The set up in a major is significantly different in terms of how the course is set up - pins , greens etc

In a major you will playing against a hugely different field and playing against the best across all golf and not just the tour that you are playing on , add in top amateurs

Then it’s the history and prestige that goes with it

 

[Singlefiguregokfer]

If the choices you’ve given I’d take Leonard’s career.
He had 11 other PGA tour wins.

If the Major winner choice had been Shaun Micheel, who didn’t win any other tour events, it’d be an entirely different scenario in my opinion.

 

[PJ87]

It's a tough one, more wins surely is important but people judge on majors

What's annoys me is how the goal posts change when it comes to people's favourites

Friend of mine is a massive Rory fan boy, Rory hasn't won a major in 10 years but then it's look at all his wins

Yet when it comes to tiger Vs jack he's like no jack's better more majors. Yet tigers won far more events overall

Then on the same hand he doesn't like Bryson just because of Liv , in the group it's like wow he had a good season major win and 2 top 10s reply is "only wins count, history doesn't remember second place" until it's Rory "look at his top 10s in majors"

It's like pick a way of measuring and stick with it

 

[PaulMdj]

Major all day long. No one says if only Monty had won another Order of Merit but there’s been many an occasion when commentators have said if only he’d added a Major to round off his CV.

There’s not many times you hear that xx won the PGA Order of Merit in 2004, but you will hear that Todd Hamilton won the Open that year.

But when people like Hamilton are mentioned, they aren’t discussed as great players or icons of the game, it’s almost discussed with incredulity.

 

[Hobbit]

There’s been a good few with only a few tour wins who, once they’ve disappeared from the tours are all but forgotten. But if they’ve got a Major win to their name gets a mention.

Another with very few tour wins and an Open win is Ian Baker-Finch. Would he get a mention if he didn’t have a Major to his name? Sadly, although better than a journeyman pro his game appeared to fall off a cliff. And it was bad. I remember him hooking out of bounds from the first tee at St Andrews. That’s like 3 fairways away on your average course - incredibly sad to watch.

 

[Crow]

The four majors as we know them now only appeared in 1960 when Arnold Palmer and Bob Drum chose them on a plane flight as being the equivalent of the old Grand Slam, which was the The Open, the British Amateur, the US Open and the US Amateur.

Even then they took a while to gain full acceptance with everyone and there were several competitions with equal or greater status.

 

[Hobbit]

The four majors as we know them now only appeared in 1960 when Arnold Palmer and Bob Drum chose them on a plane flight as being the equivalent of the old Grand Slam, which was the The Open, the British Amateur, the US Open and the US Amateur.

Even then they took a while to gain full acceptance with everyone and there were several competitions with equal or greater status.

I can remember when the Australian Open was considered a premier competition. Sadly, it barely gets a mention these days.

 

[Beezerk]

Who won the Wells Fargo? Who won at Bay Hill? Who won the Pebble Beach event earlier in the year?

Who won the Master? Who won the PGA? Who won the US Open?

Some bad examples of pga events but they were the only ones that came to mind lol, hopefully makes my point though.