Look at how skinny he was 50 years ago. Obviously had to take PEDs to gain so much size since then.

This is a great picture

I'm not opposed to the idea but not really for it either. It's impressive but just not on the same level of awesome.

When looking at a golfer's accomplishments I'd rate a U.S. Amateur title ahead of any non-major PGA Tour event. I don't think it's anywhere close to as impressive as a U.S. Open, the Open, or Masters title but it's not that far behind the red-headed stepchild of the majors (the PGA).

**** you

Just a clerical error. Originally I wasn’t going to actually go through each one and only tell the careers I knew off hand, but once I got to writing it I was actually interested to see each one. That’s why it has “Flannigan, Moore 2 wins” and then Moore on the line below. Certainly wouldn’t have left out Ramsay on purpose being one of the better careers to prove the point further.
For the record I am 100% opposed to the idea. I was just noting it for the Jack camp that is old school that they should be recognizing the amateur. The US Amateur is behind any PGA Tour event in terms of difficulty to win, but the prestige is clearly equal.

Also, the media and golfers back when the Am was considered a major had a clause that it had to be validated by a professional major to count. So it did not become a major in your record until you also won a professional major.

Being a Dallas guy who is the same age as Trip I can assure you I remember it. Pretty sure it was only about 15 feet from the right fringe on 17 at TPC to the back right pin. But that is where the fist pump was born for sure. Why did we all wear such huge Ashworth shirts back then? FU Fred Couples.

The Kuehne family was always interesting to see up close back in the day. I will say that as far as family accomplishments go they almost pulled off one of the best feats ever. Kelli and Hank both won the US Am and Trip obviously should have. That would be absurd for one family to have all 3 kids win the US Am. Had Trip finished Tiger of it would have been right up there with the Mannings and Super Bowl MVPs in back to back years.

Trip never was the same after that loss.

I agree $1.5 in 114 starts is not that good. >y point was more that he has had the game to graduate repeatedly from the web.com Tour. Yes some people certainly have found their way by 28, but having a strong background and only being 28 is still plenty of time to have a solid career. Just like noting the winners from before Tiger had better careers, well they have played their entire careers by now so we have a full body of work. You could still have multiple major champions come from this list over the next 20 years and then how do the resumes look?

Also, speaking of ages....I can't believe Wie is only 23.

I'm with you, it seems like we've been hearing about her for way too long for her to only be in her early twenties. I feel the same way about the fact that Lebron is only 28.

Well we started hearing about Wie when she was like 14, if not sooner. And LeBron at like 16. That was 9 and 12 years ago.

Wie's drop has been really sad. At one time, she was in the top five in 5 out of 6 majors and ranked #2 at the age of 16. I never thought a woman would ever be able to compete on the PGA tour, but she made me wonder....

Everyone was ridiculously wrong about her. Her wiki page is an epic read with all kinds of lolworthy quotes by both her and PGA pros. She has to be the most overhyped letdown in recent sports history.

I think her father and people around them did her a great disservice with all of the scheduling against men, etc. contrast with Tigre who was crushing Jr golf, then Am golf, college golf and only then on tour. He certainly learned how to win taking that progression and I just think her scheduling stunted her growth as a player and a winner

Her parents flat out ruined her. Though if she is smart her parents will never have to work another day in their life

Can you blame them? When she was 14, she missed the cut at the Sony Open (against the men) by one shot and was hitting it longer than the average PGA tour player.

Hindsight is 20-20.

No she wasn't. The average driving distance stat is not actually how far they hit it. It always drove me nuts when commentators would draw that statement out. My average in 2009 was like 300 and at the time my average driver was probably 330. So when she's jiffy pops one out there 275 and they say that's longer than Tour average it's complete bull****. Does she hit it far, yes. Does she hit it farther than the average man? No. Not to mention her lack of strength issues from the men's rough and with wedge game and long irons.

As for making a cut I do think it's possible in the right scenario for a woman to make a Tour cut. Hawaii, the colonial...small courses with potentially thin Bermuda rough.

Pfft. Well below 2+2 golf forum average.

BO

She does/did not hit it further than the average tour player - I was on the range next to her in 03 (?) whenever she played in the Nationwide event in Boise (she was 13 or 14 at the time). She had a great swing! From 30-40 yards away, I'd say "no way" she was under 21 years old, from 15 feet away, I'd say "maybe 18 years old" when I heard her talk I said "she's younger that 14." She was tall & while not longer than tour players, much longer than the average am male and as long/longer than most LPGA at that point in time.

Her parents were all over her at that point, and it's sad - she definitely had some crazy talent at a young age. Now, it seems it's a trainwreck.

Ok, you know better than I do obviously. The strength issues are why I've always said no woman would be able to compete with the men. Too difficult to play out of the rough or get enough spin from the fairway.

It was definitely possible for her to make it (in that condition). She was freaking 14 and missed by one shot! I figured she would get stronger, smarter and better touch. Like it has been said, too much parenting and not enough concentration on winning at each level. Wonder what could have happened though with better direction.

She's the Todd Marinovich of ladies golf

Sometimes I wonder if her length gave her much of an advantage. When I play with my friends, I hit it a lot further than them. We play a short course, and that plays to them. I still beat them, but if we played on a longer course, I would crush them.

No. Two events with identical fields with different structure/venue will almost never have same win odds for everybody.

DERP I know that.

Your post didn't.

The John Deere isn't a super strong field. That's why people refer to it as "Steve Stricker's major". It's a tongue-in-cheek jab about the difficulty of a top 10 player beating that field.

Tiger pretty much only plays in events that are hard to win. Imagine if he started playing the John Deere, the Valero Texas... etc. He plays the 4 majors, the 4 WGCs, The Players, and then some other tough-field events.