Majors- How important are they?

the poll should read "same AS" not ""same WAS"

Would you rather be Andy North (2 of this 3 wins were the US Open) or Steve Stricker (12 wins but no majors)?

Craig Perks (1 win at the PGA) or Rory Sabbatini (6 PGA Tour wins)?

Luke Donald (5 PGA and 6 Euro wins) or Keegan Bradley (3 wins including a PGA)?

The list of non-major winners includes:

Sergio Garcia

Adam Scott

Lee Westwood

The list of major winners with 1 or fewer other PGA Tour wins includes:

Rich Beem

Shaun Micheel

Orville Moody

So how important is winning a major?

Damn, my head hurts.

Better to go ask TW. Oh, wait...

Very few people remember who won the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open, Manufacturers Hanover Westchester Classic or Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic in 1986.

Everyone remembers who won the PGA Championship in 1986.

I think majors are just a tie in. A player with a major win but no regular tour wins almost says that it was out of the blue or maybe a lucky weekend. A player like stricker who has alot of wins but no major is deemed a great player but wont reach THAT LEVEL until they win a major and prove themself on golfs biggest stage. I think that you have to have both.

To expand on before. I think there isnt an equivilant number of tour wins vs major wins. Tiger is going to be a legend whether he breaks jacks record or not. He wants the majors but it will hardly change his status. A major isnt like a world series or a stanley cup. You have to be good enough to get to the major but it only takes 4 good days to win it as opposed to proving yourself over a hole season. A major alone doesnt stand on its own in making someone a "great" maybe two can but winning more consistently on decent tour events where some of the bigger players show up proves more to me than an individual major.

Majors are IT.  Winning majors is all that really matters.  Just look at players like Luke Donald or Lee Westwood.  Easily among the best golfers in the world right now but people are always asking them, "when are you going to win a major?"

Look at Keegan Bradley.  He was a nobody until he won a major.  Look at Bubba: he went from being an also-ran to being the center of attention.  Look at Ernie Els: he went from people questioning if his career was over to now being back.

Majors are what seperates the good players from the great players and are what people remember when their career is over.

Craig Perks did not win the PGA. He won the 2002 Players.

Since I got into golf in 1975 Majors were the standard. To me they still are today although there are a handful of tournaments around the world that rival their status with great courses and Major-type fields. What makes a Major so great is the pressure because, duh, it's a Major,lol!

I find events like "The Players", "Race to Dubai", "Fed-Ex Cup Playoffs", and "World Golf Championships" to be very exciting and are much like a Major with the exception that in those events they are primarily playing for large sums of money. In Majors your playing to put your name in the history books and the more you win the higher up the ladder you will be remembered. Every sport has a measuring stick for greatness and in golf that measurment is the Majors.

I didn't vote because I don't think there is an equivalency between majors and regular tour events.  The field for majors is almost always packed with the top players whereas the regular tour evens seldom are with some exceptions like the Players Championship.  Having said that you can certainly be a player of historic note and never win a major by wining a bunch of regular tour events.

Here is how my personal calculus would work:

Open Cahmpionship  = 15 regular events

US Open or Masters = 10 regular events

PGA or US Amateur = 5 regular

could the poll have a couple more choices?  i'm having trouble finding my answer...

I know you were being sarcastic but I didnt answer because I didnt see an option I liked.

There are no choices.

A major = a major.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Unless you like to think that some majors are worth more than other majors.

I agree.  I don't see it as a straight ratio.  In my opinion, the player who wins one major and nothing else is no different from the player who wins one Tour event and nothing else.  Each had one remarkable week, and the one who won the major just picked the right week to do it.  The more consistently a player wins on the regular Tours, the more significance I apply to them also winning multiple majors.

There have been some very good players who for whatever reason haven't done well in majors.  It may be that they have a stress limit beyond which they just don't do as well.  Maybe they just never picked the right week to get hot.  At the same time there have been some plodders who woke up for one week and accidentally won a major, but never won anything else.

In any event, I didn't answer the poll because I don't see any option as relevant to my feelings on the subject.

I don't know who won the PGA Championship in 1986.

Obviously the Majors are important to the legacy of the game.  It's highly rare for a non-major winner to get into the HoF.  Similarly, when Trevor Immelman tees it up anywhere in the world, he doesn't get introduced as "2006 Cialis Western Open Champion".  Their importance is mostly based on the legacy associated with winning a major; that legacy exists because they will forever be associated with, and announced as, being the winner of that championship.

To have a standout professional career, you have to win at least 1.  To be a great player, you have to win more than one.  If you don't, then all you will be remembered for--regardless of whatever else you do--is that you didn't win one.  Colin Montgomerie is the best player the Euro Tour has produced since Seve (the current Gen has some work to do to match Monty's achievements), but you never hear anyone talk about Monty without mentioning what he failed to do.  I don't know whether Monty is in the HoF, or will be--but if he's rejected, that will be the reason why.

To make the point, check out Monty's wikipedia article.  The first three sentences mention that he's 4th all-time in Euro tour wins, and has a record 7-straight Order of Merit titles, and 8 total.  But he hasn't won a major.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Montgomerie

Unless it was one of Jeff Sluman, Paul Azinger, or Bob Tway with a pitch in from a bunker, then no, I don't know who won. I sure know it wasn't Greg Norman though.

Wouldn`t be hard to look up, but off the top of my head I think Jack won the Masters in 1986, but couldn`t tell you who won any other events.

From the perspective of a golf fan, I agree that few people recall many of the regular tour events, but would your answer change if you were a pro golfer.  Would you really trade 10 wins and $10 mil for a single major?  I am sure that Tiger or Steve Stricker would trade multiple wins for a major win, but do you really think Stricker would trade all 12 of his regular wins for a single major?  Would Tiger give up 50 of his wins for 5 more majors??  Knowing that you got the job done and were the best in the world playing that week has to be a great feeling, even if it is only a regular tour event.