Lightning in a bottle, Who is the Worst Player to Have Won a Major

[Wally Fairway]

So while I was looking over the API leaderboard I was struck by the name at the bottom of the list (no it isn't Bowditch, he isn't playing this week)

With some players still on the course, Ben Curtis at +10 is 3 shots clear of the next closest player for the first round. And I then went and looked at his career this being his 14th year on tout, 4 wins, 3 seconds, a third and a total of 19 top 10's. his first win was the 2003 British Open, his other wins are 2006 - 84 lumber Classic and Booz Allen Classic and the 2012 Valero Texas Open; his other notable finish is a T2 at the 2008 PGA Championship.
Not a bad career, over $13 million in earnings, his OWGR page best performances is full of top 10's - but one week, in one major he captured the attention of the golf world. Not a bad field at Royal St. George's, VJ was T2, Tiger & DLIII finished T4, Faldo, Sergio & Goosen all were top 10; but Ben Curtis was the only player under par at -1, getting to -5 after 11 and "limping" in to finish -1. Really Thomas Bjorn was the only player close, he had the lead at -4 after 14, but going bogie, double, bogie on 15,16,17 put him back at par to T2.
It was Curtis' first year on tour, his only top ten finish of the year, he had 5 missed cuts before the Open and 3 after. Just really out of nowhere he put it all together for that one week.

No idea why, but I find that amazing. So who do your think of as catching "lightning in a bottle"?

[mchepp]

I often debate with people on who is the best player never to have won a major. Colin Montgomery is always the first to top that list. But your question is intriguing, who is the worst to have won only one. 

Ben Curtis has to be the early clubhouse leader in my mind, but the two other that clearly pop up are Shaun Micheel winner of the PGA at Oak Hill, and Todd Hamilton who won the British the year after Curtis. 

I think Curtis has a better record than the other two guys. Hamilton won one other time at the Honda Classic. So it looks like the worst player ever to win a major is Micheel. Funny too because he hit quite possibly one of the best shots to win a major on the 18th hole at Oak Hill. It was so clutch.

Anyways, I wonder who others would vote for. 

 

P.S. I am wondering if we should change the title to "Who do You Think is the Worst Player to Have Won a Major" in order to garner some more thoughts on this. Let me know what you think.

 

P.S.S. I decided to change it. If you are very unhappy let me know and I'll change it back

[colin007]

Michael Campbell?? Not sure.

YE Yang? There's a special place in hell for him.

[mchepp]

33 minutes ago, colin007 said:

Michael Campbell?? Not sure.

YE Yang? There's a special place in hell for him.

Both have other wins to their credit. YE Yang won the Honda Classic (btw what is it about guys who win one major and also win the Honda?). Campbell won a bunch on the European tour.

[SavvySwede]

Shaun Micheel has the least impressive record of those mentioned so far IMO. But considering the depth of talent on the Tour these days you'd almost certainly have to go back a few generations to find the very worst one-hit wonder.    

[dchoye]

Even though he didn't win I remember Jean Van de Velde name because of the epic fail at the British

[Golfingdad]

I'm kind of tempted to vote for Andy North. :P

3 total wins in his career - 2 of them US Opens.

[Hardspoon]

What about John Daly?  Two major wins and only three other wins in his career...

*EDIT*

Just did some Googling...this article (from 2011) even has the "lightning in a bottle" title:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/609993-lightning-in-a-bottle-the-worst-players-whove-won-a-golf-major

Ben Curtis is on their list...Shaun Micheel is at #1.

[Valleygolfer]

Maybe Lucas Glover or Rich Beem? Hard to say or compare with years gone by.

Here's a link....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_men%27s_major_championships_winning_golfers

[boogielicious]

Isn't this a bit like the One Hit Wonder debates in music? They won a major. Why bother dissing that? They beat the best at a top notch tournament. Maybe the thread title should be, "Who Overachieved the Most to Win a Major?"

Calling them the worst is more to make yourself feel better than to evaluate them. The "Worst" PGA golfer is still on tour. We aren't. The "One Hit Wonder" still had a hit. We haven't.

[BruceMGF]

Are we including the women?  I'll go with Birdie Kim.

[onthehunt526]

Shaun Micheel is definitely THE "lightning in the bottle" guy. He goes out and wins the 2003 PGA at Oak Hill, and then you hear nothing of him until a 2nd at the 2006 PGA.

Andy North won 3 times on tour. 2 wins were U.S. Opens... 

John Daly is another one, but with him it was Lightning in a Bottle maybe at the '91 PGA, but he though not super consistent, had a decent run with consistency between '92-'95, Daly had a lot more top 10s than people give him credit for, (because we don't remember most of them)... in his case, it's too bad, he had his troubles in life... he was very talented and gifted golfer.

[mchepp]

4 hours ago, BruceMGF said:

Are we including the women?  I'll go with Birdie Kim.

Well played!

[phan52]

Todd Hamilton. At least I remember Shaun Micheel because of that wonderful shot he hit on the 72nd hole.

[GolfLug]

I refuse to vote on this one like PETA picketing at a fur coat factory. Something not right about calling a major winner not deserving, even if it is just by implication. To put 4 consecutive rounds together and come out ahead of best in a planet is not a 'lightening in the bottle' simile. Not even close.

They are all ultra super duper mega deca champions in my mind.

 

[mchepp]

4 minutes ago, GolfLug said:

I refuse to vote on this one like PETA picketing at a fur coat factory. Something not right about calling a major winner not deserving, even if it is just by implication. To put 4 consecutive rounds together and come out ahead of best in a planet is not a 'lightening in the bottle' simile. Not even close.

They are all ultra super duper mega deca champions in my mind.

 

Your comment reminds me of the joke my father used to tell me. "What do you call the guy who graduated at the bottom of his class in medical school... Doctor."

There is no doubt that anyone who won a major is in an elite class, but within that class there must be someone at the bottom of it. We are always arguing who the GOAT is, therefore there must be a inverse to that discussion. Who is the bottom of the class. 

It is not shameful to be the bottom of that class, in fact its been shown they likely live life quite comfortably (Ben Curtis has his $13M plus endorsements to count), but it should not be a reason to shy away from the discussion.

[natureboy]

It's rare for low-ranked golfers to win majors, even in the early days. It's even rarer to have a true 'one hit wonder' without some show  of consistent form across the years at least in the major they won. Micheel's thin results across the years are pretty rare for a major winner.

Looking through the list of early single major winners most of them had significant number of other professional wins or amateur wins or open tournament wins (state / regional open e.g.) as an amateur. Michael Campbell had a number of Australasian and Euro Tour wins, for example even though his only PGA win was a Major.

The players on the far right of this chart are Curtis, Micheel, John Daly, Paul Lawrie, Darren Clarke, YE Yang, John Daly, Keegan Bradley, & Steve Jones. Wins from the top half of a major field are rare, but their collective ~ 10% share isn't insignificant. Chance of being struck by lightning (in one's lifetime) are about 1 in 3,000. In the period of the chart about 4,500 individual player spots are represented.

Other names possibly in the 'over-achiever' group are: Fred Herd, Tom Creavy, Jack White, Walter Burkemo, Jim Turnesa, Orville Moody (late bloomer won a bunch on Champions Tour), George Sargent, Claude Harmon (only 2 tour wins, but dominated Westchester / Metropolitan area while head pro at Winged Foot), Tommy Aaron, Dave Marr, Jack Fleck, Charles Coody, Keegan Bradley (still early in his career).

IMO, the biggest 'overachiever' in Majors was Larry Nelson with 3 Majors and 7 'regular' tour wins.

Edited March 18, 2016 by natureboy

[natureboy]

22 minutes ago, natureboy said:

Chance of being struck by lightning (in one's lifetime) are about 1 in 3,000. In the period of the chart about 4,500 individual player spots are represented.

about 16,400 individual player spots (pre-cut) are represented.