11 Best Golfers Without A Major

Golfers meaning players still active.

Here is a list of current players who have been ranked by a golf digest formula to determine the best players without a major.

Where the formula is:

PGA Tour/European Tour wins since start of 2012 (WGC, FedEx Playoff, Players & BMW PGA events weighted more) + Average Official World Golf Ranking points + Career "close calls" in major championships (finishing within four shots of winner).

http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/2013-04/golfers-without-major-photos#ixzz2c6vtGerr

They don not give a more precise calculation of the numbers, but here is how they ranked the best players without a major. (with score from formula in brackets)

1. Lee Westwood 15.05

2. Matt Kuchar 14.17

3. Brandt Snedeker 14.02

4. Henrik Stenson 11.32

5. Hunter Mahan 11.19

6. Luke Donald 10.77

7. Sergio Garcia 10.03

8. Dustin Johnson 9.30

9. Jason Day 9.02

10. Ian Poulter 8.57

11. steve Stricker


Clearly basing it on 2012 to current form has harmed Luke Donald as he has very few major close to compensate for current poor form.

How do you guys rate this list of the nearly men and who is most likely to break through next in the majors?

Is there someone not on this list who you think should be?

What up and coming player will be on this list in the coming years?

Possibly MAJ too. Some of those players (Jason Day) haven't been around long enough as it seems inevitable that Jason Day will win a major so I think the period on which they have based it is a little skewed.

I don't expect Mahan to win one, although I think Kuchar has the game and temperament.

Players who may never win another though would be an interesting list.

seems like they are trying to judge who of these players is most likely to win a major soon rather that judging who was the best player not to win over their whole career.
LW, Luke, Sergio and Stricker are the top 4 IMO, though not necessarily in that order.

hend085 wrote:seems like they are trying to judge who of these players is most likely to win a major soon rather that judging who was the best player not to win over their whole career....

Indeed. I'd hardly have Snedeker, Johnson or Day anywhere on that list as they haven't been competing at that level for that long. Not sure about Mahan or Kuchar either. Don't think it makes much sense given the very limited time span they've chosen to consider.

I have a pretty strong feeling that Kuchar, Sneds and Day will win a major. Kuchar in the next couple of years, Jason Day has a lot of his career to go and I think will win multiple majors - he seems to have the big game temperament.

Can't see Poulter, Sergio or Luuuke ever winning one. Looking increasingly unlikely for Stricker and Westwood too.

raycastleunited wrote:..Can't see Poulter, Sergio or Luuuke ever winning one. Looking increasingly unlikely for Stricker and Westwood too.

I'd rephrase that as "it's getting less and less likely that Poulter....."

If Darren Clarke, Todd Hamilton, Mike Weir, Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel etc have taught us anything, it's that any golfer might just win a major, but there's a lot of them you'd not wager money on.

Having Day on the list undermines the credibility of how they've chosen to measure it, as he has only won one tournament ever.

For it to make sense I think they only should consider players who have been on tour for X+ years with Y+ wins. Where for instance X>10 and Y>5.

pedro wrote:Having Day on the list undermines the credibility of how they've chosen to measure it, as he has only won one tournament ever.

For it to make sense I think they only should consider players who have been on tour for X+ years with Y+ wins. Where for instance X>10 and Y>5.

You would also need to factor in the degree of difficulty in the win, presumably by how many OWGR were available for the tournament overall.

One player who will surely be in the mix for such a list shortly would seem to be Matsuyama.
Very impressive start to his pro career and we might actually have a young Japanese player who's worthy of Ryo-like (the Michelle Wie of men's golf?) hype.

Jason Day has no place on this list in my book. Bags of talent and ideal for place-betting but certainly not a proven winner - his one win was a struggle, and against one of the worst PGA Tour fields in recent memory.

No formula needed just base it on scoring average

A lot of Europeans on that list.......Considering so few get the chance to play in Majors.

Must be something in the water.........a bottle thing perhaps..

TRUSSMAN;
What's the American for "pillock"?

Just a bit of friday fun Kwini.......

Pillock isn't complimentary I imagine......so maybe douchebag..

Kwini - I think the translation you are looking for is "trussman"

Likely to win a major, IMO: Kuchar, Dustin Johnson.

I would be very surprised, IMO: Stricker, Westwood, Poulter.

Sadly, almost zero chance: Sergio.

Wetwood is to deluded about his game to win a major.

Watch some recent interviews where he says how good his shortgame is now and how much better he is putting... Absolutely mental!!

His putting is a joke. chipping / bunker / wedge play is not bad but the amount of putts under 10feet he misses means he cannot be considered a great golfer or even "best never to win a major"

I think Snedeker, Kuchar, Johnson should win a major.

And I know a lot will disagree with me but I really think Sergio has a major in him. He makes too many birdies not to be in with a shout.

If there were any more majors left this year id say Stenson is a banker but he has been a bit unlucky

I hope Poulter misses the cut in every tournament he plays in. Vile cretin who I had the misfortune of playing 9 holes with about 10 years ago. One of the rudest individuals iv ever met.

One - Well, you do bring up an excellent point about Sergio and his "extra gear". I would really like to see him bag one.

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.404.html

westwood fairly far down the list

It seems a bit silly only going back to the start of 2012 to compile this list. Career records of all players currently active in the upper echelons of the game would give a far more interesting list. Westwood & Garcia would have to be the top two although whether either will ever win one now must be doubtful at this stage.

Day & Johnson certainly deserve to be there for consistently looking the part in majors. Donald and Stricker are the two for me who are barely worth a mention here. Their performances in majors are utterly abysmal and neither look remotely like ever winning one. At least Donald has an extra 10 years. He had a phenomenal 2011 (although still did nothing in majors). If you took out that one year from an almost 12 year career, I think his record is disappointing for a player of his talent. I don't see why he comes up at all in lists like this. The one point I will make though, is that I would have said the exact same thing about Adam Scott three years ago.

Luke Donald has a brilliant (though not so brill as it once was) short-game, but what other special "talent" does he have?
Trouble is, Major Championship courses, apart from Augusta National, are not set up for Lukey's other speciality: Short and Crooked.

Perhaps this GolfWorld enterprise will help identify the "11 Best Golfers Without A Major"!

http://www.golfworldmonday.com/golfworldmonday/20140127?sub_id=m6YFz2X7vbcH#pg16

PS: Clearly this is intended to circumvent the Tiger vs Jack debate.

PPS: The reference to "the last days of the Carter Administration" refers to the best ex-President around, not to the BBC's Iain Carter.

I'll pass on their rankings!