Best Player to Win "Only" One Major?

[Chunkitgood]

Take any of the people mentioned in their prime, take Xander however you spell his last name, put them on your home course, with whatever equipment they chose, who would win?

 

Put them on a modern pro course or some TPC, who would win?

 

I’m thinking Xander would walk away with it in either case.

[Ty_Webb]

33 minutes ago, Chunkitgood said:

Take any of the people mentioned in their prime, take Xander however you spell his last name, put them on your home course, with whatever equipment they chose, who would win?

 

Put them on a modern pro course or some TPC, who would win?

 

I’m thinking Xander would walk away with it in either case.

 

Prime Furyk who shot a 58 and a 59? I'd probably lean towards him tbh.

[mshills]

Not in order, I tried and could not come up with a ranking. 
 

Tom Kite
Jim Furyk

Ian Woosnam

Sergio Garcia 

[mshills]

7 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

Take any of the people mentioned in their prime, take Xander however you spell his last name, put them on your home course, with whatever equipment they chose, who would win?

 

Put them on a modern pro course or some TPC, who would win?

 

I’m thinking Xander would walk away with it in either case.

Furyk went below 60 twice! I’ll take him, with Kite and Woosnam close behind. 

[ColinKelvin]

16 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

Take any of the people mentioned in their prime, take Xander however you spell his last name, put them on your home course, with whatever equipment they chose, who would win?

 

Put them on a modern pro course or some TPC, who would win?

 

I’m thinking Xander would walk away with it in either case.

 

This is pure recency bias really. He's playing very well rn, and he is a great golfer but there is no evidence to indicate he's somehow more talented than Monty, Westwood, Garcia, Kite, Furyk, Mangrum, whoever.

 

And a better question might be: put Xander on an Open / US Open rota course with 80s or 90s equipment and balls against any of the leading players from that era, who would win?

[dashanks]

On 5/20/2024 at 10:14 AM, ColinKelvin said:

For some reason the only major I remember Kite in apart from his win was the 89 Oak Hill USO which Strange won. He had a substantial lead and made an almighty hash of a hole on the front 9, including IIRC a topped wood from the rough.

 

Was he popular in America?  I could never work out if US fans liked him much, or thought he was a bit of a dork. I always thought his demeanour was a bit odd. Great swing though.

How could you possibly think this guy was a bit of a dork:

 

🙂

 

 

[Golfnutgalen]

18 hours ago, Chunkitgood said:

Take any of the people mentioned in their prime, take Xander however you spell his last name, put them on your home course, with whatever equipment they chose, who would win?

 

Put them on a modern pro course or some TPC, who would win?

 

I’m thinking Xander would walk away with it in either case.

 

It's funny people here refuse to agree with this.

 

Xander is so much longer than the other players listed it's a joke. He would slaughter them on a modern course setup. That's not being unfair to players of old it's just the reality of the situation. 

 

 

18 hours ago, Ty_Webb said:

 

Prime Furyk who shot a 58 and a 59? I'd probably lean towards him tbh.

 

And Xander shot 62 in a major twice already now. It looks like he's more than fit for that challenge. 

[Fairways_and_Greens]

13 hours ago, mshills said:

Not in order, I tried and could not come up with a ranking. 
 

Tom Kite
Jim Furyk

Ian Woosnam

Sergio Garcia 

Good list. I feel like Jason Day should be in there too. 

[Jayjay_theweim_guy]

14 hours ago, ColinKelvin said:

 

This is pure recency bias really. He's playing very well rn, and he is a great golfer but there is no evidence to indicate he's somehow more talented than Monty, Westwood, Garcia, Kite, Furyk, Mangrum, whoever.

 

And a better question might be: put Xander on an Open / US Open rota course with 80s or 90s equipment and balls against any of the leading players from that era, who would win?

It's challenging.  We don't have the wealth of statistical data for play back then.  But going by the data we have now, Xander is really, really good.  Seriously, go look at his SG comp plots at Pgatour.com.  Yeah, there's Scottie (and the LMPD...), then everyone else, but X's at the top of the 'everyone else.'

 

Maybe he'll continue to show it, now that he's shown he can close a big one out?

[Brass_Bullseye]

Put Tom Kite’s game in an attractive body with a modicum of personal charm and he wins this title by a mile.  Unfortunately, he was a goofy looking dude with the charisma of a doorknob. Bless his heart, he was the only person I’ve ever seen who got less attractive when he quit wearing glasses. 

[ChrisL52188]

11 hours ago, Brass_Bullseye said:

Put Tom Kite’s game in an attractive body with a modicum of personal charm and he wins this title by a mile.  Unfortunately, he was a goofy looking dude with the charisma of a doorknob. Bless his heart, he was the only person I’ve ever seen who got less attractive when he quit wearing glasses. 

For sure.

[mshills]

11 hours ago, Brass_Bullseye said:

Put Tom Kite’s game in an attractive body with a modicum of personal charm and he wins this title by a mile.  Unfortunately, he was a goofy looking dude with the charisma of a doorknob. Bless his heart, he was the only person I’ve ever seen who got less attractive when he quit wearing glasses. 

People forget how good he was. Crenshaw has the charisma and the putting stroke that makes me need a smoke, but Kite is a PLAYER. 

[Dave230]

On 5/22/2024 at 7:55 PM, Chunkitgood said:

Take any of the people mentioned in their prime, take Xander however you spell his last name, put them on your home course, with whatever equipment they chose, who would win?

 

Put them on a modern pro course or some TPC, who would win?

 

I’m thinking Xander would walk away with it in either case.

David Duval and Jason Day for their primes, they were dominant world number 1s, albeit for short spells. Xander has never hit the level of those two imo, but may well end up a better career.

[Jgolfer99]

If you look at quality of other wins on his resume, career world rankings over the years (barring 2020 and beyond due to LIV), Euro Tour credentials prior and Ryder Cup history...my vote would go to Sergio Garcia.  At the very least he needs to be in the conversation when you look at his body of work on the whole. 

[mat562]

23 hours ago, Jgolfer99 said:

If you look at quality of other wins on his resume, career world rankings over the years (barring 2020 and beyond due to LIV), Euro Tour credentials prior and Ryder Cup history...my vote would go to Sergio Garcia.  At the very least he needs to be in the conversation when you look at his body of work on the whole. 

 

It pains me to say it, but I agree. A stellar talent as a youngster, you can make the argument that he ultimately underachieved and that his temperament hamstrung him to some - or perhaps a significant - degree, but for all his faults and irksome ways Garcia enjoyed an undeniably solid career when you stack everything up.

 

I still vote for Woosnam though. The best part of thirty wins in Europe, plus a brace in the States, as well as a good few in Africa and Asia. Yes, his record is a bit patchy when it comes to tallying up those few Majors in which he was genuinely in contention, but he was a wonderful player to watch at his best. A picture perfect swing that hit the ball miles, and when his putter was on song he was able to shoot scores that very few other players could, and all with consummate ease. 

 

Others that came to mind as I pondered this question were Weiskopf, Kite, Couples, Garcia, Duval, Furyk and Oosthuizen, but Woosie's body of work and style of play tipped it for me.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2024 by mat562

[mshills]

2 hours ago, mat562 said:

 

It pains me to say it, but I agree. A stellar talent as a youngster, you can make the argument that he ultimately underachieved and that his temperament hamstrung him to some - or perhaps a significant - degree, but for all his faults and irksome ways Garcia enjoyed an undeniably solid career when you stack everything up.

 

I still vote for Woosnam though. The best part of thirty wins in Europe, plus a brace in the States, as well as a good few in Africa and Asia. Yes, his record is a bit patchy when it comes to tallying up those few Majors in which he was genuinely in contention, but he was a wonderful player to watch at his best. A picture perfect swing that hit the ball miles, and when his putter was on song he was able to shoot scores that very few other players could, and all with consummate ease. 

 

Others that came to mind as I pondered this question were Miller, Weiskopf, Kite, Garcia, Duval, Furyk and Oosthuizen, but Woosie's body of work and style of play tipped it for me.

 
The four I posted I don’t think I could rank. That’s pretty weak being asked for one and coming with four. Anyhow, thinking about Woosnam, he was strong as hell and man did he strike the ball well. 
 

When Woosnam had that extra club penalty at the Open….I forget the year, but that was crazy. Retired caddie here and I would NOT want to be on the bag in that situation. I thought he was going to whoop his caddie’s tail with the extra club. 

[mat562]

It was a weird and ultimately unfortunate situation because he was not driving the ball well that year - 2001 - and actually used three drivers during the championship. One of them was apparently donated by Robert Allenby. Two, I think were Taylor Made 300s, and one was a steel-shafted Titleist 975D. According to his autobiography, on the Sunday he was undecided between two of the clubs and, after his warm-up session, instructed his caddie, Miles Byrne, to take one of the drivers back to his locker. Byrne was reportedly somewhat nervous in the lead-in to the tee time, such that Woosie's coach, Pete Cowen, remarked upon it in jocular manner. We all know what happened next.

 

It was doubly unfortunate in that the championship was played that year at Royal Lytham & St Annes, where the opening hole is a par three. Woosie was only carrying one wood that year, having put his old faithful Ping Eye 1-iron back in the bag after finding it loafing in a cupboard and realising that it could be a potent weapon around the links in the wind. At any other course, starting with a par four and a driver, the extra headcover would probably have been noticed before he stiffed the 6-iron tee shot, but it wasn't; and the rest is, as they say, history. I was there that year, heard the mumblings in the crowd, and made my way back to see Woosie on the 3rd hole with a face like thunder.

 

Whether he would have gone on to win or not is debatable, but it was a sorry sequence of events for a long-time Woosie fan like me.

 

 

Edited May 25, 2024 by mat562

[mshills]

@mat562 thanks for that. If that had come down to Duval and Woosnam down the stretch that would have been tremendous. Not sure who’d I’d have rooted for! Duval was so good at that time. 

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

On 5/20/2024 at 3:39 PM, mat562 said:

Lots of fine players on a long list, but for me it's Ian Woosnam.

 

Came here to say that. 

 

Tough call between Tom Kite and Woosnam, but for me, Woosnam was the only one who made golf look easy.

[Soloman1]

1 hour ago, No_Catchy_Nickname said:

 

Came here to say that. 

 

Tough call between Tom Kite and Woosnam, but for me, Woosnam was the only one who made golf look easy.

 

woosnam’s irons sizzled like a steak in a hot frying pan.

 

does kite get dinged one point for this? 🙂

 

 

 

[Jim53]

3 hours ago, Soloman1 said:

 

woosnam’s irons sizzled like a steak in a hot frying pan.

 

does kite get dinged one point for this? 🙂

 

 

 

That had to sting a bit

[Birdman62]

Frankly, given how hard modern players hit the ball, I'm surprised someone hasn't been seriously injured or even killed by a ball that is shanked or topped or something right into a row of spectators 40 yards ahead.  Esp. on recovery shots when the marshals open up a mere 30 foot gap or such.  These guys are good but they aren't perfect, and this remains a classic Murphy's Law situation that will cause a lot of chaos for the tour and/or event in which it happens, c.f. the injuries/deaths in baseball/hockey which led to expanded netting.

[No_Catchy_Nickname]

10 hours ago, Soloman1 said:

 

woosnam’s irons sizzled like a steak in a hot frying pan.

 

does kite get dinged one point for this? 🙂

 

 

 

 

Double secret probation for that shot. 

 

 

[OBbogey5]

Number 1 in the world during Tiger. It’s Duval. The greatest player to win only one major. Furyk has longevity, but nobody really remembers that compared to greatness. Duval was special for a minute.