Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 1412804)

There always seems to be the question of who's the best player in the world to have never won a major.
Sergio was probably the guy until last April.

But I got to thinking, who is the best player in history to have never won a major.

The first person that comes to my mind is Colin Montgomery. He was so close in so many majors and won a bazillion tournaments worldwide and topped the European Order of Merit many times. My only hesitation is that he really didn't play the US PGA tour a whole lot so he really wasn't playing against the best in the world.

Anyone else have an opinion?

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 1412808)

Lee Westwood, Matt Kuchar and Steve Stricker

Originally Posted by Rapscallion St Croix (Post 1413000)

I remember when Tom Kite was the all time money leader and had no majors. He finally won the US Open in the early 90s.

Another was Corey Pavin. Turned pro in 1982 and finally won a major in 1995.

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 1413026)

All-time leading money winner is an irrelevant statistic. Unless you adjust for inflation and even with that, the purses are so much bigger today. My first serious teacher was a guy named Paul Runyan. He was the leading money winner the first year that stats were kept. He won about $6800.
I have a friend who played on tour for eleven years. Although he had one win, he was considered to be a journeyman player. But he won more money in his career than Ben Hogan.

You can take money stats and toss them out the window.

Originally Posted by Rapscallion St Croix (Post 1413032)

Kite was the first in Tour history to reach $6 million, $7 million, $8 million, and $9 million in career earnings, and that is an irrelevant statistic?

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 1413052)

Yes. Purses have grown exponentially beginning back te 80s. A friend of mine won the 1974 Kemper Open. It was one of the highest purses of the era. His first place prize money was $50,0000. How many tournaments would a player have had to win in 1974 to get to $6 million? In 1988, Curtis Strange was the first player to win $1 million in a year. And if I'm not mistaken he had to win the big season-endingTour Championship which almost doubled his earnings for the year. Today a player wins a minor event and wins more than anyone before 1988 won in an entire season. But even that million dollars was deceptive when you consider that half of it came from one tournament.

Money winnings are irrelevant unless they are adjusted and I don't know how they even can be adjusted for today's tour.



Again, my friend, Bob Menne, 1974 Kemper Open Champion won more money in his career than Ben Hogan. Where would you rank Bob Menne compared to Ben Hogan.

Greg Chalmers has won more than double what Jack Nicklaus won in his career.

If you look at the list of most money won in a career, the top 59 are current players. Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer in history is number 261 on that list.

Career earnings are a meaningless statistic.

Originally Posted by Rapscallion St Croix (Post 1413288)

What was the most unlikely major win?
I vote for Orville Moody. His only regular tour win in 266 starts was the US Open.

Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr (Post 1413289)

That's a good one. I'd add Lucas Glover, Steve Jones, Jack Fleck, Ed Furgol and Dick Mayer and Michael Campbell to that list.

But in my opinion, the most unlikely champion would probably be Francis Ouimet