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Which Would Be More Impressive: An Amateur Winning the Open, or a Grand Slam?

jamo

By jamo,
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  1. 1. Which would be more impressive?

    • An Amateur Winning the British Open or U.S. Open
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    • A Grand Slam
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jamo Incredible Member

jamo

This is coming out of the Open Championsip, as amateur Paul Dunne co-leads through 54 holes and Jordan Spieth sits one back. So which would be more impressive: an amateur winning a major, or someone completing a calendar year grand slam?

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Fourputt Incredible Member

Fourputt

I'm on the amateur.  A player competing against the 100 or so best players in the world and coming out on top?  Last time was Bobby Jones, and he didn't have close to the level of competition that is out there this week.  Enough said. :doh:

Rick

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nevets88 Incredible Member

nevets88

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This is fun to ponder.. I was thinking about this too. The only amateur to win was Ouimet? I may be wrong on that, but it was a bloody long time ago. The only grand slam, Bobby Jones, was probably in the bloody long time ago timeframe as well. So if you base it on history (assuming my fuzzy history is correct), it's a wash, but times have changed. Fields are deeper, but the development process is intensely competitive.

I would say the Grand Slam. Because one has to win four times over a period of 5 months. The anticipation and pressure mounts after each major is won. You have to string together 16 good rounds. And each course has different characteristics.

As an amateur, you're coming out of nowhere, so no one is expecting anything out of you, way less pressure and you only have to do it once. And the amateur in this case is older than the GS prospect, albeit one year-ish, so it's not like the amateur is lacking life experience (compared to GS candidate) and not fully physically developed. Plus Dunne has a bit of a home field advantage, I'd give him a better chance in the OC than the USO. McIlroy and Woods won their first major at a very young age - 21/22. They weren't that far off from their amateur days. But I'm looking at it a bit much w/respect to the example today. If Guan Tian Lang ( 关天朗) won the Masters, I would say there's less of an impressive gap as he was 14 (or close) and had such a distance and experience disadvantage.

Some club pro winning the PGA championship would be more impressive than winning the GS I would think.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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tristanhilton85 Great Member

tristanhilton85

I got to go with the grand slam. Winning four times in one year is very impressive and to do it in the four majors is just unreal. An amateur winning would be impressive as well, but it would just be that guy catching lightning in a bottle for that one week.

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14ledo81 Super Member

14ledo81

Grand slam. To much to overcome with 4 wins against the best in the world.

-Matt-

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ghalfaire Great Member

ghalfaire

Either one would certainly be impressive but I have to believe that a Grand Slam is the more difficult to accomplish since no one has ever held all four titles in the same calendar year.

Bobby Jones did have four major titles in a single year but they were the US Open, The US Amateur, The British open, and the British Amateur.  Amazing but not sure it is considered a "grand slam".

Butch

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Mr. Desmond Super Member

Mr. Desmond

Grand Slam.

As to great amateurs, we can "blame" Tiger for opening up the game to athleticism. I think some parents are raising their kids to be professional golfers ... they have the financial resources for every type of coach and technology needed, and some kids have great talent and experience. So it's not too surprising that we have an outstanding number of amateurs who are ready for professional golf.

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mvmac Incredible Member

mvmac

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I voted Grand Slam. An amateur winning would be impressive but a player beating the best golfers in the world, four times in a row, on different courses is just crazy good.

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nevets88 Incredible Member

nevets88

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Grand Slam. As to great amateurs, we can "blame" Tiger for opening up the game to athleticism. I think some parents are raising their kids to be professional golfers ... they have the financial resources for every type of coach and technology needed, and some kids have great talent and experience. So it's not too surprising that we have an outstanding number of amateurs who are ready for professional golf.

I think tennis was a harbinger of this. There was more money in tennis earlier and top ranked women got younger and younger and tennis academies were a thing for kids before your Leadbetters were.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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Mr. Desmond Super Member

Mr. Desmond

I think tennis was a harbinger of this. There was more money in tennis earlier and top ranked women got younger and younger and tennis academies were a thing for kids before your Leadbetters were.


Agree.

I remember the 70s and 80's tennis camps... just could not return a high speed serve.

And there is so much more than Ledbetter and Haney now ... thank goodness for the game. Spieth was nurtured under a relatively unknown coach, and then there are the Randy Smiths of the world... lots of fine under-the-radar coaches.

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billchao Incredible Member

billchao

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Grand Slam, as others have mentioned, because a guy has to win four majors to do it. It's much easier for someone to win a single major, even as an amateur, than for a guy to win four majors in one calendar year.

Bill

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saevel25 Incredible Member

saevel25

I voted winning the grand slam. Tiger's the only one who's ever held all 4 at a time, but still not in a calendar golfing season.

You have three majors that allow amateur's to play. I think the odds are much more in favor of an amatuer winning than a professional winning all four in a season.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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Gunther Great Member

Gunther

Grand Slam, no-brainer. 4 vs. 1. Hell, 2 in a row is more impressive than an amateur winning.

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nevets88 Incredible Member

nevets88

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Interesting WSJ piece on ams. It mentions last am who won a major. http://www.wsj.com/articles/this-professional-golf-major-is-looking-amateurish-1437345493

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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ChrisP Great Member

ChrisP

I think winning just 3 straight legs of a grand slam is more impressive than an amateur winning. Tiger did it in 2000 but didn't think we'd ever see that happen again in our lifetime, especially with the level of competition today.
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nevets88 Incredible Member

nevets88

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Anyone know what's the largest prize money amount an amateur would have earned if not for his amateur status?

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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