Underachievers and Overachievers

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Tongo

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My chat with Homer on another thread has got me thinking: which golfers do you think underachieved in their career and which do you think got the very most and more out of theirs?

There are some obvious for me: Monty didnt win the major that his career deserved. The same could be said for Lee Westwood who hasnt won that elusive major or a WGC event. Also, i dont think Adam Scott has achieved, yet, the success to match his talent.

In terms of overachievers, well Vijay Singh showed what can be achieved by allying sheer hard work to his abilities.


Thoughts?
 
Sergio Garcia should have won a major by now, Todd Hamilton shouldn't.

That said, there is more to golf than talent, you need to have your head right and often, you just need to be in the right place at the right time.
 
Westwood should have won a major but I think he has still achieved to a very high and consistent standard and fought back from a massive dip in form. On that basis I'm not sure he has under achieved. Garcia, and perhaps Scott, two golfers with sublime talent have never really scaled the heights their game indicate they should have
 
Adam Scott, considering he's not too great with the short, sorry long, stick but has still won The Masters and has had 26 other wins worldwide. 2nd at The Open (should have won), 3rd at the PGA, I don't think you can say that he's underachieved.

Same goes for Garcia. Got steadily worse on the greens from when he turned pro up till last year. Granted he's awesome with his irons, but the rest of his game is very average in comparison to the others in the Top 50.

I suppose there is the argument that Westwood and Monty definitely have the ability to win a major, but the fact they haven't doesn't mean they've underachieved.

Angel Cabrera could be classed as an overacheiver. Until last July he'd only had 2 wins on the PGA Tour. Granted they were the US Open and The Masters..... but still, only 2??

And all the majors are won by the best players over those 4 days, be it Tiger, Rory, Todd Hamilton or even Mike Weir.
 
Padraig Harrington has massively over achieved with 3 majors. Don't think he won much else?

Edit- just had a look and it appears he won a lot more than I thought. Still don't think he was anywhere near 3 majors good though.
 
Last edited:
chillicon said:
Padraig Harrington has massively over achieved with 3 majors. Don't think he won much else?

Edit- just had a look and it appears he won a lot more than I thought. Still don't think he was anywhere near 3 majors good though.
Click to expand...

I get chills remembering the 5 wood he hit towards the end of his defence of The Open. Awesome shot. Awesome player.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w86X4wjjhw
 
chillicon said:
Three majors, 11 other ET and 2Pga. Some other Mickey mouse stuff, but still a lot better haul than I thought. Still don't think he was as good as three majors suggests.
Click to expand...

If Westy was as clutch as Padraig he would have won at Turnberry. Can't knock Harrington for seizing the opportunity when it presented itself....



3 TIMES.
 
You could say Padraig underachieved as if I remember correctly he did not start playing until into his 20's so imagine what he could of done if he had the same number of hours behind him as say Tiger in his youth?
 
chillicon said:
Three majors, 11 other ET and 2Pga. Some other Mickey mouse stuff, but still a lot better haul than I thought. Still don't think he was as good as three majors suggests.
Click to expand...

With the talent he had I would say he underachieved but because of his own desire to constantly want to change things
 
chillicon said:
Three majors, 11 other ET and 2Pga. Some other Mickey mouse stuff, but still a lot better haul than I thought. Still don't think he was as good as three majors suggests.
Click to expand...

I honestly couldn't disagree more, Harrington had that winning mentality, loved playing in the tough conditions because he knew that half the field hated it, a real grafter but his obsession with the mental side of the game has had a detrimental effect on his game since 08, he also admitted to having the yips for a few years and is only now confident he has beaten them.
 
The biggest over over achiever in the game right now is Jordan Spieth probably, his stats are pretty crap in everything other than scoring but he still manages together around in low numbers consistently.

In my book, Dustin Johnson is the biggest underachiever right now, aside from his personal issues he has such talent and hasn't taken advantage of it on the major stage at least
 
Controversial one for me as he is a hero of mine.

Ernie Els in majors.

4 for a man of his talent is definitely sub par. Suppose he ran into Tiger in his heyday but he should have won at Augusta and probably picked up another Open.
 
Poulter is a serious overachiever, hacks it about like one of us some days, but I love the marmite man as the sport needs characters like him, the yanks hate him and he loves it:ears:
 
LanDog said:
The biggest over over achiever in the game right now is Jordan Spieth probably, his stats are pretty crap in everything other than scoring but he still manages together around in low numbers consistently.
Click to expand...

Stats show you who does specific things well.

I think it highlights the importance of being able to "play golf" rather than just striping everything.
 
The biggest underachiever is Sergio Garcia, he's a far better player than his haul.

Over achiever, McDowell, nothing more than a grinder but he sticks in and gets it done.
 
Region3 said:
Stats show you who does specific things well.

I think it highlights the importance of being able to "play golf" rather than just striping everything.
Click to expand...

I definitely agree, but the point I was trying to make is that Spieth manages to be that good without really excelling at any element of the game, the way Rory has his driving and Tiger had his putting.

Spieth's best attribute is probably his mental capacity to keep going and grind out results.

The aim of golf is getting around the course in the lowest amount of shots possible and Spieth is excellent at that, he was 8th I think in scoring which is the most important stat probably, he just finds a way to score well
 
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