Who is the biggest underachiever in the Majors?

[PEZGolf]

• I think it is Dustin because he has had the lead so often and then blown it! I still cannot believe he 3 putted the last hole at Chambers Bay from such a short distance!

Edited January 3, 2016 by iacas
Added a Poll

[PEZGolf]

Marc Leishman will win a Major BEFORE either Dustin or Sergio!

[Yukari]

Sergio didn't beat himself, he got beat by others who played better. 

Dustin beat himself a couple of times. 

[iacas]

Poll added. C'mon, @PEZGolf…

[PEZGolf]

4 minutes ago, iacas said:

Poll added. C'mon, @PEZGolf…

Thank you. It does make this thread much better!

[ghalfaire]

I was going to vote for Sergio but decided I vote for Colin Montgomerie just to start the conversation.  Colin was certainly under performed in the majors and in general in the States.  Not sure why as he was/is a great player.

[bkuehn1952]

There are lots of pretty good golfers who have not won a major championship.  Greg Norman has two.  Still, considering Norman's great talent, #1 rank and general notoriety in the 1980's and 1990's, two majors seems to be a rather paltry haul.

[mvmac]

Was initially trying to decide between Norman and Sergio and voted for Sergio. Even though Norman was in the lead/hunt in many majors he did manage to win two of them. I don't anyone would have predicted that Sergio wouldn't be a major winner by the time he was 35. I also don't see him having a Mickelson-type major run in his mid to late 30's.

[saevel25]

I'll vote Sergio just because he's older and has more opportunities to noise dive. Dustin I think will win at least two majors before his career is over. He's too talented and I think he'll end up playing at a course that fits him perfectly. He should have one already if he or his caddy read the rules at Whistling Straights. 

Colin never impressed me. I think maybe Lee Westwood is a good one as well. He's clearly been in position to win a few majors. 

Luke Donald is another one. You would think with his putting he could pull one off. Furyk isn't that much longer than him and he has one. 

 

[PEZGolf]

3 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

There are lots of pretty good golfers who have not won a major championship.  Greg Norman has two.  Still, considering Norman's great talent, #1 rank and generalist notoriety in the 1980's and 1990's, two majors seems to be a rather paltry haul.

I agree. The Shark had a bad run from the 1986 PGA (Bob Tway holed a shot from a bunker) to the 1987 Masters (Larry Mize made that nearly impossible chip in the playoff). In the 1996 Masters, his loss was because of a TOTAL collapse on Sunday (Faldo had a steady 67 to Greg's 78!!). However, his two wins in the Open Championship (1986 and 1993) were very impressive! In 1990, our local boy, Wayne Levi, beat out the Shark for the PGA Tour Player of the Year honors as Wayne won 4 times. It was his BEST year (he had 12 career wins).

[natureboy]

I had to say Norman. I do think he ran into an unusual number of guys playing out of their minds, but given his long run at or near the top, I'd have to say he under-produced relative to expectations. I wouldn't be surprised if he often 'tried too hard' to 'make it happen'.

To me Sergio is second, but don't know how close he was to the top for how long. He had a lot of talent and promise that may have been over-hyped because announcers wanted to see a rivalry of somebody - anybody with Tiger.

[PEZGolf]

1 hour ago, natureboy said:

I had to say Norman. I do think he ran into an unusual number of guys playing out of their minds, but given his long run at or near the top, I'd have to say he under-produced relative to expectations. I wouldn't be surprised if he often 'tried too hard' to 'make it happen'.

To me Sergio is second, but don't know how close he was to the top for how long. He had a lot of talent and promise that may have been over-hyped because announcers wanted to see a rivalry of somebody - anybody with Tiger.

Good post!

[Broke100Once]

My vote's for Jack Nicklaus.  Nineteen second-place finishes in majors?  What a choker!

[Broke100Once]

My vote went to Sergio, narrowly edging Monty.  Garcia underachieves since he openly admits to a lack of mental strength, which is kind of stunning for a pro golfer to acknowledge about himself.  I almost feel like Sergio *can't* win as long as he doesn't actually believe he can win a major.

Can't vote for DJ quite yet since he's still in his prime and it's easy to see him eventually winning a major (or majors) before he's done.

Can't vote for Norman since at the end of the day, the guy won two claret jugs.  He could or even should have at least six majors to his name, though Norman's major defeats often came due to bad luck (Mize or Tway hitting miracle shots) or another guy just playing a bit better.  That said, he certainly blew his share of sure things or possible wins --- the 1989 Open, his blowout loss to Fuzzy in the 1984 US Open playoff, and at least three Masters tournaments.

[rolopolo]

Voted Monty. Monty was a tremendous player, in an 8 year period or so from 1993/4 to 2001 he won on average 3 Euro tour tournies every year. In that same period he missed a bunch of cuts in The Open and really didnt perform well in the other majors either bar a couple of second place finishes.

Was in two playoffs for a major title, lost both. In fact, Monty has been in heaps of playoffs during his Euro tour career and never ever won. Thinking that somehow he just didnt have the bottle to win one.

Sergio can still win, Dustin probably will win one or two - but we can now reflect on Monty's career and say for sure that he massively underachieved in  the majors.

Edited January 6, 2016 by rolopolo

[PEZGolf]

On 1/4/2016 at 5:07 AM, Broke100Once said:

My vote's for Jack Nicklaus.  Nineteen second-place finishes in majors?  What a choker!

Tongue in cheek, eh? I would LOVE to have Jack's record!

[PEZGolf]

7 hours ago, rolopolo said:

Voted Monty. Monty was a tremendous player, in an 8 year period or so from 1993/4 to 2001 he won on average 3 Euro tour tournies every year. In that same period he missed a bunch of cuts in The Open and really didnt perform well in the other majors either bar a couple of second place finishes.

Was in two playoffs for a major title, lost both. In fact, Monty has been in heaps of playoffs during his Euro tour career and never ever won. Thinking that somehow he just didnt have the bottle to win one.

Sergio can still win, Dustin probably will win one or two - but we can now reflect on Monty's career and say for sure that he massively underachieved in  the majors.

You are right about Monty, but I am glad to see what he has done on that "other" Tour- he is a REAL CHAMPION on the CHAMPIONS TOUR!!

[Marty2019]

On 1/4/2016 at 5:07 AM, Broke100Once said:

My vote's for Jack Nicklaus.  Nineteen second-place finishes in majors?  What a choker!

Great answer!  I had to laugh out loud at that one.  

Pretty remarkable, though, 37 top-two finishes in majors.  Incredible.   And then whether it was first or second place, there was always the warm smile and hearty handshake as if to say, "Hey, that was a lot of fun.  Let's do it again soon."   What a guy.  

Back on topic, I guess I'd have to say Colin Montgomery, since he dominated the European tour for so many years and then failed to win even one major.