2020 PGA Championship - Harding Park

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

He’s not jon Daly great, but then again who is?

[TonyTexas 10513]

26 minutes ago, Dr. Beeper said:

He’s averaged slightly more than 1 tournament win per year and has won one major. That’s not greatness. He’s a good player. He’s not great yet. 

Who, among active golfers, do you consider great. 

[ztejas 43449]

2 hours ago, StruggleBus said:

I agree with that. I just think the four "majors" are stupid. Tournaments should be rated by their strength of field, not by arbitrary "major" titles. Yes, the majors would still be at the top, but it would give a huge boost to the other big tournaments out there that are just as difficult to win. 

Part of the reason majors are really hard to win is that everyone approaches them as majors. It's not just the strength of the field. Players take weeks off, put in extra sessions, tailor their games etc. 

On top of that, the courses are always manicured to present a significant or specific set of challenges.

It's like playing against a basketball team in the regular season vs. playing against them in the Finals. The competition is stiffer and the competitors are more dialed in.

[Fudbelty 2788]

Without quoting the wall of text and also knowing it doesn’t change a ton JT only has one major victory.

[Hate 20108]

I've never been a Brooks fan.  The guy is just completely unlikable.  He should just keep his mouth shut.  That said, the majors in golf are everything. Nobody remebers who has won the most of any other tournaments than the majors.  If I were a star player on the PGA tour, the only tournaments that would really matter are the 4 majors and the Ryder Cup.  I would absolutely try to win every tournament I was in even if it was the John Deere, but the ones I would remember and want to be remembered for are the majors.

[Pato del Muerto 52498]

People remember Snead winning a hundred of them. People sure made a big deal out of tiger’s win streak in 2000. 
but if you ask a golf fan to name the top 10 winners all time or even currently on tour, they would have to guess based on who the greats are. And maybe there’s high correlation there. How many have won 20+ but never a major?  Yet people can easily pull up rich beem or Shaun mcceel or Ben Curtis.

[LTtxfan 49187]

31 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

but if you ask a golf fan to name the top 10 winners all time or even currently on tour, they would have to guess based on who the greats are. And maybe there’s high correlation there. How many have won 20+ but never a major?  Yet people can easily pull up rich beem or Shaun mcceel or Ben Curtis.

Yah pulled up some older players that some won't remember.   Here's 3 more recent PGA Championship winners that also fit your narrative:

• Y.E. Yang 
• Jason Duffner
• Keegan Bradley

[ztejas 43449]

3 hours ago, Dr. Beeper said:

Varying levels of great obviously. I think all are Hall of Famers, with Tiger and Phil no brainers. Vijay is close, and Ernie right behind him. I know all these guys are HOF’ers, but they’re all still active and so I answered who was “great”.  Rory is close already, but he’s 31, and while his scoring has been erratic and performance in majors has been spotty since 2014, except for The Open, his overall play is still really solid. A few more wins, and I think 1-2 more majors means he’s a HOF lock like Phil. 

Of the next group, it’s weird. Both Spieth and Thomas have 14 wins and are 27. Jordan has 3 majors and JT 2. Brooks at 30 has 10 wins on PGA, Euro, and Japan tours (I’m not counting any minor tours in win totals) and 4 majors. Both have more work to do in the next decade. Spieth simply needs to calm the fuck down and get his driver straight, and he’ll start winning again. Maybe not a flurry of majors like he had, but he will win again. JT and Brooks are clearly top 5 players who just need more time for wins. I’m convinced of this because of their mental makeup relative to Jordan.  Brooks really needs to focus on non major tournaments. DJ at 36 has so much talent but reminds me of a dumb Phil in terms of Phil not being able to win majors. Well he got over that stigma in a big way starting at age 33, and had 3 majors by 35. DJ actually has 22 wins, but needs more majors in the next 7 or so years to not be his generation’s Greg Norman. All are easy future HOF candidates with JT, Brooks, DJ, and Spieth - in that order of possibility for “great” likelihood.

Scott, Rose and Day are all nice golfers who haven’t done enough and only Day can seemingly do something about that now with their ages. I’d put Woodland here but he hasn’t done enough and is 36  ZJ and Molinari have done more but they’re in this category as well  

Rahm, Morikawa, and DeChambeau are an exciting crop but I wanna see them do it like Collin did yesterday. Wolff, Hovland and Sheffler need more time. 

Fuck Bubba, and fuck Reed. 

You're overestimating how hard it is to get into the HoF. Retief Goosen is in the hall. Ben Crenshaw is in the hall. Rory is beyond a lock and would probably get in twice over at this point. Spieth and Koepka are probably locks as well. Zach Johnson might get in with British, Masters (very short list of players with both) and another 10 tour wins. 

A couple you left out would be Paddy (3 majors, 3 more PGA wins, 12 more Euro wins) and Furyk (17 tour wins inc US Open, Memorial, Tour Championship)