Best Players to Have Won Only One Major

Golf has long had a title, “Best Player Never to Win a Major” (or BPNTWAM). Kinder souls prefer the label “Best Player Yet to Win a Major” (BWYTWAM), but the core truth remains: good golfers who have yet to break through to capture a Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, or PGA Championship.

Once players get the monkey off their back, why, they’re home free, right? Not so fast. This week’s Trap Five counts down the best players who have won only one major. Sure, the monkey may be off their back, but he’s still clinging to their ankles.

Winning one major demonstrates both skill and a bit of luck, but luck favors the prepared. Which active players are the best to have happened upon the confluence of skill and luck only once? Read on to find out.

Number Five: Tom Kite, 1992 U.S. Open
The 1992 U.S. Open was played in some of the most brutal conditions many golfers could remember. Whipping winds, cold temperatures, and a slaying, spraying ocean rain pelted and belted the golfers for four long days. In the end, the first PGA Tour golfer to put a third (and, eventually, a fourth) wedge in his bag was victorious.

Tom Kite is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was the PGA Tour’s money leader in 1981 and 1989 and the Vardon winner in 1981 and 1982. He played on 7 Ryder Cup teams and was PGA Tour Player of the Year in 1989. With 19 PGA Tour victories and seven titles on the Senior, errr, Champions Tour, Tom Kite’s short but controlled style may not have played well at Augusta or even at some of the British Open sites, but it should have netted him another U.S. Open or PGA Championship.

Number Four: Tom Lehman, 1996 British Open
Tom Lehman has only five PGA Tour victories, but they include The Memorial, The Colonial, The Tour Championship, and a lone major: The 1996 British Open. A Ryder Cup stalwart, Tom Lehman has the dubious distinction of playing in the final group in three consecutive U.S. Opens, winning none of them, but joining Bobby Jones as the only player to lead three straight U.S. Opens after three rounds. Of course, Bobby won a few of ’em.

Lehman came to the game late, but his skilled iron play and his accuracy should have resulted in a victory or two. His performance at The Masters – where his draw should suit the course – has been sub-standard, perhaps due to a faulty putting stroke and short game. His British Open victory suited him, at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club, as Lehman is a low-ball hitter capable of keeping the ball out of the wind. With Lehman’s career experiencing a bit of a resurgence, can he capture a second major? It seems unlikely. In 1996, Tiger Woods was winning a U.S. Amateur and finished ten strokes back at the British Open.

Number Three: Fred Couples, 1992 Masters
Were it not for a ball miraculously staying out of Rae’s Creek on the dangerous par-3 12th hole on Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club in late April, Fred Couples may not have made the list. Couples’ chip and par-saving putt enabled him to cling to a very shallow lead on his way to capturing his first – and only – major championship.

Couples, who has long suffered with a bad back, has won 15 PGA Tour starts and is known as one of the most consistent ball-strikers on tour. With an underrated short game and a sometimes spectacular putting stroke (particularly from 15-20 feet), Couples seemed a shoo-in to win a few more majors, including the one played overseas. Did his back keep him out of it? We may never know. At the ripe old age of 46, Couples’ best years are probably behind him.

Number Two: Davis Love III, 1997 PGA Championship
Who can forget the 1997 PGA Championship. Davis Love III, his deceased father and long-time PGA Pro Davis Love, Jr. on his mind, putting into a rainbow on the final hole to secure his victory. A two-time winner of the Players Championship (the “fifth major”) and winner of 18 events on the PGA Tour, Love’s length, putting stroke, and calm demeanor seem to spell “M-A-J-O-R,” but instead have only spelled “D-I-S-A-P-P-O-I-N-T-M-E-N-T.” Minor back problems and a major decline in 2004 and 2005 have seemingly ended the 41-year-old’s chances at future majors.

Love III won four times in 2003, winning more than $6M in the process, and many fans hoped this resurgence would carry over to 2004. Instead, Love missed 1/4 of his cuts, finished in the top 10 1/3 of the time, and didn’t win. Good friends with Fred Couples – and winner of four consecutive World Cups of Golf from 1992-1995 with Freddie – Love III probably knows that both he and Freddie should have captured more than one major by now.

Number One: Phil Mickelson, 2004 Masters
With 26 PGA Tour victories to his credit, Phil Mickelson has played well. In fact, he’s one of the “Big Five” on the PGA Tour (if you insist on using applying that moniker). The only difference? Tiger Woods has ten major victories, Retief Goosen two, and Ernie Els and Vijay Singh each have three. Phil Mickelson came within five shots of winning the Grand Slam in 2004, but took only the first major of the year. In 1999, he was bested by Payne Stewart at the U.S. Open in Pinehurst.

Though Phil’s gambling style typically doesn’t support playing well at the U.S. Open or the PGA Championship, many would have expected a few more wins from Phil in the British Open and The Masters, where his masterful putting and short game should have paid larger dividends than one win. He’s finished second or third at The Masters countless times. Compare this: of Tiger Woods’ 44 PGA Tour victories, 10 are majors (23%) in 35 major attempts (29%). Phil has played a major-to-regular-event winning percentage of 3.85% and has won only 2% of his professional majors (1 of 46).

Just Missing the Cut
David Duval, once the top-ranked player in the world and winner of the 2001 British Open, has promptly collapsed and has fallen to something like the 4,363th ranked player in the world.

Ian Baker-Finch won the 1991 British Open, firing 64-66 on the weekend to edge Mike Harwood. Baker-Finch has had trouble shooting 64-66 on consecutive nines since then.

Greg Norman just had to go and win a second British Open, didn’t he?

Next Week
Next week we’re going to take a look at the worst players to have won a major. That should get interesting…

Photo Credit: © Matthew S. Gunby, AP. © Unknown.