Golf’s Forgotten Major Winners
Golf’s four major tournaments allow players to make a permanent mark on the sport’s history. Many top golfers have won consistently on professional tours without landing one of the “big four,” a lasting regret that stains otherwise impressive careers.
Other top names have delivered, showing the talent and determination to overcome pressure situations. In the more than 160 years since the first major tournament, not every winner has started high in the rankings.
This sport is where shock champions appear frequently, and golf has provided many unexpected and long-since-forgotten victors since the first Open Championship in 1860.
Danny Willett: 2016 US Masters
When he teed up at Augusta in 2016, Danny Willett was competitive on the European Tour. Two months earlier, he secured four professional wins and claimed victory in the prestigious Dubai Desert Classic. Despite that solid return, Willett had little chance at the US Masters.
His stunning victory owed much to Jordan Spieth’s meltdown on Sunday’s back nine, but a three-shot win confirms that the Englishman was a worthy champion. The year 2016 was Danny Willett’s most productive. He’s won three times in eight years since that solitary major success, and a long-term injury means he is struggling to be fit in time for the 2024 US Masters.
Paul Lawrie: 1999 Open Championship
The conclusion to the 1999 Open Championship became farcical on the final hole. Jean van de Velde held a three-shot lead going into the last, and the engravers must have been preparing to enter the Frenchman’s name onto the famous claret jug. Van de Velde blew that lead and entered a three-way playoff with Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard.
Lawrie won after his two opponents found trouble, but this was one of the less-convincing Major triumphs. The Carnoustie course came in for severe criticism, which included an unnecessary comment from Davis Love. As for Lawrie, it was his only PGA Tour victory, but he has claimed five more wins in Europe.
Rich Beem: 2002 PGA Championship
Rich Beem’s win at the 2002 PGA Championship at Hazeltine was so impressive that it’s a surprise that he failed to build on it. He edged the great Tiger Woods into second place with a final round 68 as the two pulled clear of the chasing pack.
Beem certainly had pedigree going into the event with two Tour victories, including a win at The International two weeks previously. He was among the form golfers, but that form was fleeting as his game faded. More than twenty years after his only Major win, Rich Beem is a respected commentator and one of the sport’s best analyzers.
Todd Hamilton: 2004 Open Championship
If you’re only going to win once on the European Tour, you should make it a big one. Todd Hamilton didn’t earn his Tour card until age 38 and was unknown to local golf fans when he teed up at the 2004 Open Championship at Royal Troon. His only mark in the sport came in Japan, where he won eleven times.
Victory in the Honda Classic in March 2004 suggested that Hamilton had a chance in the majors, but few expected him to win any of the big four. His victory at Troon came via a tense playoff over favorite Ernie Els, but it would be Hamilton’s last professional win.
Ben Curtis: 2003 Open Championship
British golf fans became weary of unknown Americans turning up and winning their only major tournament. A year before Todd Hamilton’s success, Ben Curtis became an unlikely winner of the Claret Jug at Royal St George’s. Curtis enjoyed a more productive career, with four PGA Tour wins overall, and he later tied for second at the 2008 PGA Championship.
He was, however, an underdog at the 2003 Open, and his win underlines the unpredictable nature of the sport.
Andy North: 1978 US Open and 1985 US Open
Following his victory at the Westchester Classic in 1977, Andy North won just two more events on the PGA Tour. Those successes were seven years apart, but they were significant. North won the US Open in 1977 and followed that with an even more unlikely triumph at the same tournament in 1985.
His modest overall career and later work as a commentator and summariser means many have forgotten Andy North’s ability to raise his game when it mattered.
Richard Burton: 1939 Open Championship
English golfer Richard Burton held the Open Championship title for the most extended period. It is, however, a hollow milestone as he won the event in 1939, and the tournament took a break for another seven years due to the Second World War.
Burton was a competitive golfer who had won five tournaments before the 1939 Open. However, he lost his best years to the global conflict, and his win is largely forgotten.
Y.E. Yang: 2009 PGA Championship
South Korea’s Y.E. Yang became the first male Asian golfer to win a Major when he claimed the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine. It’s another occasion where an unlikely win became more notable because Tiger Woods settled for second place.
Tiger experienced a rare slump on the final day, carding a disappointing 75. Yang came from behind to win by three strokes, a remarkable achievement, but it was also the last of his two victories on the PGA circuit.
Francis Ouimet: 1913 U.S. Open
American Francis Ouimet was the first amateur to win the US Open, but this wasn’t the main reason his 1913 victory was such a shock. Historically, the amateur game was much more substantial, but Ouimet succeeded at a time when great players of the age dominated the game.
A former caddie himself, Ouimet had a ten-year-old boy on his bag, and he overcame the brilliant British players Ted Ray and Harry Vardon. It was a huge shock that is difficult to comprehend in modern times. Ouimet’s unlikely win also made golf a more inclusive sport, and this was a landmark victory in many ways.
Walter Burkemo: 1953 PGA Championship
Walter Burkemo’s first win on the PGA Tour was a big one. Back in 1953, the competition was a Matchplay tournament. Shock winners were rare, so Burkemo’s achievement as an underdog was remarkable.
However, his success didn’t inspire him to continue. A year later, Walter Burkemo quit the Tour and returned to life as a club professional.
Bill Rogers: 1981 Open Championship
Texan Bill Rogers was in good form as he approached the 1981 British Open, but few expected him to win. He’d tied for second place at the US Open a month earlier and had won twice on the PGA Tour, but even Rogers didn’t rate his chances at Royal St George’s. Fellow player Ben Crenshaw had to persuade him to compete at The Open, and he almost missed his first tee time.
From that shaky start, the rest of the tournament was a breeze. Bill Rogers led from the end of the second round and eventually beat an emerging Bernhard Langer by four strokes. After his final pro win in 1983, Rogers struggled with burnout and left the Tour five years later.
John Daly: 1991 PGA Championship & 1995 Open Championship
Nobody could forget John Daly: He’s one of the most colorful characters to pick up a golf club, and the sport would have been poorer without his contributions. It is, however, incredible to think that two of his five PGA Tour wins were in Majors.
Daly only qualified for the 1991 PGA Championship after several withdrawals. He had immense power off the tee, but little else suggested a threat to the leaderboard. One of golf’s biggest shocks followed, as Daly won by three strokes. He later added a sensational playoff victory in the 1995 Open Championship at St Andrews.
Orville Moody: 1969 US Open
Lee Trevino tipped Orville Moody to win the US Open, but he was in a minority of one. Moody came through local and sectional qualifying to take his place and compete against some of the sport’s giants. He took up golf late in life, leaving the military at age 34 to give it a crack.
In 1969, Moody came from the lowest ranks of the underdogs to win the tournament by one shot. It was Orville Moody’s only PGA Tour victory, although he later enjoyed sustained success on the seniors’ Tour.
Steve Jones: 1996 US Open
Steve Jones’ victory at the 1996 US Open was an unexpected triumph over adversity. A promising career looked to have come to an abrupt end when a dirtbike accident in 1991 damaged his left ring finger, and he sat out the next three years.
Jones returned in 1994 but failed to add to his four PGA Tour wins before the 1996 round of majors. He had little chance at Oakland Hills, but his final score of two under par was enough to win by a stroke. Steve Jones had defied the odds to land one of the most unlikely Major victories ever.
Richard Mayer: 1957 US Open
Richard Mayer could have become a serial Major winner. 1957, he won the US Open before finishing fifth in the PGA Championship the following month.
He later tied for fourth at the US Masters in 1959, but personal issues held him back. Mayer faced constant battles with alcohol, and experts feel this prevented him from adding to his seven PGA Tour wins.
Darren Clarke: 2011 Open Championship
The markets rated Darren Clarke at around the +10,000 mark to win the 2011 Open Championship. The Northern Irishman was a solid professional, with 13 wins to his name, but he’d hit his early 40s, and his best years were behind him.
In testing, windy conditions at Royal St George’s, Clarke’s intelligent play took him into a tie for the lead at the end of the second round. His challengers fell away one by one before the veteran claimed the Claret Jug by three shots.
Shaun Micheel: 2003 PGA Championship
Darren Clarke was a long shot in 2011, but he couldn’t match the pre-tournament odds of Shaun Micheel eight years earlier. The journeyman Tour pro approached the 2003 PGA Championship as a +25000 underdog without a win. It was another testing tournament at Oak Hill, where few players carded under par across the four rounds.
Micheel was in touch with the leaders from the start and went into the final day tied at the top with Chad Campbell. A solid even-par final round saw him claim victory as Campbell faded. Shaun Micheel failed to win another tournament but finished as the solo PGA Championship runner-up behind Tiger Woods in 2006.
Jay Hebert: 1960 PGA Championship
While his win at the 1960 PGA Championship wasn’t the biggest shock in golf, Jay Hebert started among the underdogs. With great names such as Arnold Palmer and Sam Snead in contention going into the final round, success seemed unlikely, but Hebert carded a steady 70 to win by one stroke.
His success secured a fascinating footnote in golf history. Jay’s brother Lionel Hebert won the PGA Championship in 1957, and they are the only siblings to win the tournament.
Charl Schwartzel: 2011 US Masters
Golf fans will remember the 2011 edition of the US Masters for all the wrong reasons. The tournament was set up for Rory McIlroy before a final round 80 saw him drop through the chasing pack. McIlroy’s horror round allowed 26-year-old South African Charl Schwartzel to take advantage similarly to Danny Willett five years later.
Schwartzel was among a clutch of golfers in second place, four shots behind Rory at the end of the third round. A brilliant 66 on Sunday brought the green jacket to South Africa.
Michael Campbell: 2005 US Open
New Zealand’s Michael Campbell became the latest qualifier to win a Major when he claimed a shock victory in the 2005 US Open. The Kiwi enjoyed success on the European Tour and pushed John Daly close at the Open Championship in 1995.
At Pinehurst ten years later, Campbell claimed his only PGA Tour win, edging out Tiger Woods by two shots. His results at Majors sum up Michael Campbell’s patchy career. Along with his US Open win, he enjoyed top-ten finishes at the Open Championship and PGA Championship but failed to make the cut in ten attempts at the US Masters.
David Duval: 2001 Open Championship
David Duval’s victory at Royal Lytham in 2001 was no shock, but his dramatic slump means his achievements are a distant memory. Along with that Major success, the American secured three runners-up slots, split between the US Masters and the US Open, and reached the number one world ranking in 1999.
By the time he won his only major, David Duval had already struggled with severe injury. Further issues and a reported case of the “yips” meant that the 2001 Open triumph was his last professional win.
Trevor Immelman: 2008 US Masters
Golf took a back seat for South Africa’s Trevor Immelman in 2008, and it was remarkable that he could tee up at the US Masters. In December of the previous year, doctors had discovered a lesion on his diaphragm. Ironically, it was “the size of a golf ball,” and fortunately, the tumor was benign.
Despite a positive diagnosis, Immelman missed the first few weeks of the 2008 season and had little chance when he arrived at Augusta. Four rounds later, he had seen off a late challenge by Tiger Woods to claim the trophy by three strokes. It was an incredible triumph over adversity, but Trevor Immelman couldn’t add another professional win to his CV.
Jason Dufner: 2013 PGA Championship
2013 was Jason Dufner’s year. He was a journeyman pro who offered a threat in most tournaments, but few saw him as a multiple-major winner.
Having tied for fourth in two consecutive US Opens leading into this tournament, Dufner may have felt his chance had gone, but a solid performance at Oak Hill beat off Jim Furyk by two strokes.
Jake Fleck: 1955 US Open
Each entry on this list could claim to be the biggest shock in golf, but the final inclusion could trump them all. At the 1955 US Open, unknown American Jack Fleck upset the great Ben Hogan, who was aiming for a record fifth title.
Fleck overcame Hogan in an eighteen-hole playoff, and an equivalent today could involve you or me beating Tiger Woods. Fleck didn’t win another major but enjoyed two more PGA Tour victories.
