One Time Major Winners

Welcome to tommy does golf. Join Tommy and the crew for a quick 20-minute chat – three PGA pros, light-hearted banter, and unfiltered takes from guys who've seen it all.

In this episode, they're diving into a weird one: the players who were ultra‑consistent for years – always there or thereabouts, winning multiple tournaments, competing at the top end of leaderboards week in, week out – but only managed to win a single major. Yep, just one. The boys pick out a handful of these legends, chew over their careers, and debate what stopped them from being even more revered in the game.

So sit in, enjoy the craic, and let's get into it. We're here for a good time, not a long time.

To learn more about us or to get in touch head to: tommydoesgolf.com   

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Tommy Does Golf, the podcast where three old timers give you our opinions on everything golf. I'm Tommy Long, joined by fellow PGA professionals James Morgan and Paul Charman. With over a hundred years and counting in the golf industry between us, we are well into our back lines. We'll do our best to stay on topic, but just like our teashots these days, this podcast could go anywhere. We're hoping you enjoy the banter, and maybe, just maybe, we'll share a few pearls of wisdom along the way. Let's get into it.

SPEAKER_03 0:29

In this episode, we're diving into one of the most fascinating paradoxes in golf. The players who were so good, so consistent, and so often in the mix that it's almost unbelievable they have only one major championship to their name. Now let's be clear from the start. Winning a major is the absolute pinnacle of the sport. There are legends of the game who never even got their hands on one. But that's exactly our point. We're going to talk about the guys who were there year after year. They'd be right at the top of the leaderboard playing in the final groups on Sundays, and yet, for whatever reason, maybe a final round blitz from someone else, a cruel bounce of the ball, or just a moment of heartbreak, they only managed to get over the line once. It really shows you the razor-thin margin between a career defined by one win and a career defined by a handful of them. So in this episode, we focus on some of the names that perfectly fit this bill. The ultra consistent players who perhaps didn't get their just desserts in the game's biggest events. James, we'll start with you. Give us a player who it's hard to believe only won the one major championship.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

So I have gone for Freddie Couples, who won the Masters in 1992. Now he is 66 at the moment, but going back then, you said in your intro how a cruel bounce might have robbed some of these people. But there's an iconic moment on the 12th hole, the par three at Augusta, where his ball landed on the edge of the green, then rolled down the bank. Now, everybody's ball throughout history has always ended up in the water, and his ball actually stayed on that bank. And were it not for that, he wouldn't be in this category at all. So he actually got a bit of luck up and down it, and the rest, as we say, is history. I think the thing about Freddie Couples is you know, you look at his stats, he was world number one, he's won 64 tournaments, he's won the players' championship, which is you know called the fifth major by the Americans because they want to make their tournament sound better, but I'm sure there are other tournaments that are just as good. So he won that a couple of times, round at TPC Sawgrass, another great golf course. He's also become the oldest person to make the cut at the Masters at 63 years and six months. That was back in 2023. So he has had an amazing career. You look at Freddie Couples, and I think you all think laid back, carefree, just such a beautiful flowing swing, uh, and everything about him you just go, yeah, didn't really care. But looking into it, he got nervous. He was actually a reasonably nervous golfer. So his self-esteem wasn't quite as up there as it probably should have been. And you look at him and think, how laid back it's a guy. So it's been quite an interesting look into his career. You look at the seniors tour, and he's prolific on that. So, you know, you just go, why is it the only one-one major? So, what do you guys think?

SPEAKER_03 3:35

I don't know many people that don't like Freddie Couples. I remember Peter Alice saying that if Freddie Couples was a dog, he'd be a Labrador because everybody loved it. And it was such a brilliant comment because it was just bang on. And like you said, James, watching Freddie Couples, you could watch that golf swing on a loop, you know, it was effortless. I remember when he was asked why he didn't wear a glove, and he said, because I couldn't afford one as a boy. Yeah. I don't really have anything else on it except to say, thank God he won the masters, because we get to see him every year playing in that event. Paul, anything on him before you move on to your play?

SPEAKER_01 4:09

Oh, no, apart from what you guys have obviously just said, you know, rhythm, timing, the look, the whole thing. And James, you got you just something to add, you know, we talk about the stuff.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

So he hated the British Open because the weather, you know, it could always be horrendous. And so for him, when you've got a bad back and you're playing in cold conditions, that probably took him out of a lot of the opens, so now all of a sudden he's only got three majors and he can win a year. Okay. I didn't know about his backage. Yeah, he's on the seniors tour now, and he has all hybrids, and he just has like a nine-on and pitching widges. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

All very quickly. I remember at the last Masters they've now got footage on the range, and all the players were watching Freddie. They were all crowding around Freddy, having a chat, and just watching him, and even the cameras, they weren't on the younger guys, they're all just watching Freddie mesmerised by that rhythm, and just it's a thing of beauty, eh? That golf swing.

SPEAKER_01 5:01

Right, Paul, give us somebody. So the guy I'm going to talk about is David Duval. But before I do, I'd just like to say that I think that there are some players who chase records. They are the Tiger Woods of the golfing world, and not just necessarily in golf, but in other sports as well. You find that there are players that want to achieve greatness. Once they achieve a record, they set themselves another record and another record and another record. And then I think that there are some players who simply just dream that one day they will win a major. David DeVall. Nothing extraordinary stands out about his career. I mean, PGA Tour wins 13, Nike Tour wins 2, Japan Tour wins one, he won one major. After he won the Open in 2001, his game started to deteriorate to the point that in 2011 he lost his card. Lost his card completely. He never won another tournament. He never won another tournament after the open in 2001. And I just think sometimes, and I'm not saying with all these players, but I just do think that sometimes they get to the point where they hold that final cut and they go, hallelujah. I've done it. I have done it. I've done it, I've won my major. End of story.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:29

I've achieved what I wanted from when I was a kid. Done and dusted. Happy days. I'm going to go and retire and live my life happy. James Dean Gold for the year, 2001.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Thanks very much. Also, though, he became world number one in Tiger's reign. So he's become world number one and he's won a major. He is in Tiger Woods' prime. And he must be pegging up against Tiger on a regular basis, just thinking this is hard. And as you've said, he's won a major, been world number one. Maybe his focus wasn't there. But he can now say, I'm a major champion.

SPEAKER_03 7:04

And I got to world number one.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

So maybe he did reach his goals and go, you know what, I'll keep trying, obviously. But then, you know, 2001, I mean, onwards, Harold Donald was tiger around that era. So hard to compete against. Very much so. A very unique swing, very shut, held off. He could striper.

SPEAKER_03 7:21

Yes. Alright, well, look, I'm going to crack on my one. I'm going to go with Jim Furick. Obviously, we've talked about him before, but he's known for his incredibly unorthodox golf swing. That double overlap grip. If anybody's tried to swing the club like that, just to have a crack at the double overlap and see how you swing the club because you might look a bit more like him than you normally do. Furick was the ultimate grinder. He was an amazing competitor. Still blows my mind that he only won one major championship, which is why I picked him. That being the 2003 US Open at Olympia Fields. When you look at his career stats, they are staggering. Between 1999 and 2016, he spent over 440 weeks in the top ten of the world rankings. Yeah, wow. Which is pretty amazing. I mean, think about that for consistency. He also played on a remarkable nine consecutive Ryder Cup teams from 1997 to 2014. So to play your way onto a US team nine times in a row, you've got to be a hell of a player. Also the only player in PGA Tour history to shoot two rounds under 60, shot 59 in 2013 at the BMW Championship, and then in 2016 he became the first player ever to shoot 58 in the final round of the Traveller's Championship. Incredible numbers. But his record is also filled with agonisingly close calls in the majors. At the US Open he was runner-up three times in 2006, 2007, 2016. At the PGA Championship, he was runner-up in 2013, finishing just two shots behind Jason Duffner, despite holding the 54 whole lead. And he also finished in the top four at the Open Championship in 97, 98, 2006, and 2014, which shows you what a versatile grinder he was because he was able to adapt to links conditions as well. And at the Masters, he was in the top four twice in 98 and 2003. I mean, we obviously know that he won the FedEx Cup in 2010 and was the PGA Tour player of the year that same season. It's just amazing to look back on Jim Fury. And I think maybe we remembered him being there so often because of that golf swing. Because it did stand out when he was on the screen. You knew that was Jim Fury on Allo. He's he's in the mix again. So yeah, quite amazing, really.

SPEAKER_00 9:37

And if you saw an amateur swinging like that, you'd go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're not doing that, son. Let's let's break your swing down. And then you look at that swing and you think it's got to break down at some point.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:46

But it didn't. He would hold up under pressure.

SPEAKER_03 9:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

Because he he'd learnt away, but he stuck to it. Like Colin Montgrom did with his fades, the reverse pivot and then going backwards, hitting the fade. He did that all the time. Furick had his elbow stuck behind his body, but he did the same thing every single time. He believed in the process, stuck to it, trusted it, it works. And he frees it at impact, and like you say, Where's the club face?

SPEAKER_03 10:09

That's it.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

So I'm amazing.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Alright, James, you got anyone else?

SPEAKER_00 10:12

I've got Tom Kite. Okay. He spent 175 weeks in the top ten of the official golf world rankings between 89 and 94.

SPEAKER_03 10:20

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

He had 19 victories, including the 1992 US Open at Pebble Beach. He was on seven Ryder Cups. Yes. Which again, we use the Ryder Cup as a benchmark, but to get on an American team, that was pretty good. But he qualified for all of those. He was not a captain's pick in any of those, which I think is even more impressive. To do that. He sits third on the all-time Ryder Cup list for the Americans for points. See, we don't hear that very often, do we?

SPEAKER_03 10:52

That's an interesting fact.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

And who's one and two? Come on, guys. On the Americans? Yep. Of course. I'm going to give it to you because most of this pod's going to go forever. Phil Mirkelson, two you'll never get. Lanny Watkins. Is that right? Now Phil Mikkelson's got 21 and a half points. Fifth on the European is Sevi with 22 and a half points. So the fifth on the European is better than that. So Tom Kype was third. He's ahead of Tiger for points one in a Ryder Cup. Incredible. So quite impressive from that point of view. But again, one major, one players' championship, one tour championship, and then all these other wins. Yeah. So he's the first player in tour history to reach six million in earnings, seven million, eight million, and nine million. So he was in the era when money's starting to grow, and he's the first player to do all this consistent winner. Now there's a quote here from Johnny Miller. Johnny Miller referred to Kite as the greatest short-arm player the game has ever seen. Wow. And that comes from Johnny Miller. Who was an unbelievable ball striker? Yes. And you know, Sevy would have been around in that era. Yes. But then you look at that and go, because he wasn't a long hitter. No, he wasn't. And so he was a short hitter and he relied on his short camera. Again, it comes back to having a process, probably a real overachiever, really, with what he had. Yes. And you look at that and you think, yeah, okay, guys. It's pretty amazing, eh?

SPEAKER_03 12:20

And looking back on it now, I was never that keen when I watched him. He wasn't somebody that would sight yet because he was probably so systematic and almost boring in the sense that he would hit those fairways and greens in red. He wasn't kind of a highlight reel, was he? Because he was so consistent. But isn't it fantastic that he actually got his major because that was so deserved, eh? You know, and and but we don't hear about him, do we? Really? Tom quite now.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

And you didn't really go and have much of a senior career, you know, whereas a lot of the players of that era they'd go on the seniors tour and they then did really well after that. I think he just said, you know, I've I'll I've got a double, yeah, and then I'll leave it.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

I do remember him working. I remember when I was at St Andrews in 1995, the first open, the only open I ever went to, I was on the practice area, and I went out to watch Tom Watson play. So my boss said to me, Hey, Watson's out there, I think it's somewhere at the 13th, go in that direction and you'll find him. And as I'm walking out there on the left-hand side of the practice area, there was a pot bunker. And of course, I see Tom Kite. He's very recognisable in those glasses, and he's in this pot bunker and he's just playing shots. And anyway, I came back two hours later. Who's in the same pot bunker? Tom Kite. And it's the first time that it dawned on me that these guys could. I mean, he hadn't buggered off as soon as I walked down the golf course and gone and had a cup of tea. And it just amazed me. So yeah, I just I just can't fathom having that work ethic. Obviously, I didn't, that's why I'm sitting here talking to you boys. But anyway, Paulie, give me somebody else.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

Ian Wosnam. Woozy. In his early years, he travelled around Europe in a camper van eating baked beans to save money. Okay? Yep. He won the Masters, as we all know, in 1991, tied second in 1989 in the US Open, tied third in 1986 and 2001 at the Open. Strong as, not the tallest person in the world, but what a striker. Strong. He would have been to me top three in all of the players.

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Yeah, and he was amazing. Five foot four, tall, five foot four, but incredibly powerful. And there's a famous story at Augusta at the practice fairway where they used to have a net at the end of the practice fairway because of the guys who're hitting the ball too far. And Mark Kalkavecchia is hitting drives and the bounce-bounce into the net, and Wooji's going bounce-bounce into the net. And Kalkovecki turns around to Ian Woosman and just said, I thought you were supposed to be long. So Woozy pegs one up, flies it clean over the net, and turns around and goes, I am. And then just carried on hitting shots again. Shut up, move on. And because on the was it the 18th Augusta when he won, he flew the bunker on the left.

SPEAKER_03 14:57

He did because I remember watching Matt Masters with my dad. My dad said, What's he going to do on 18th? Because he ain't comfortable moving it left to right. And I went, he's just going to hit it straight over the trap, Dad. And I knew he was going to do it, and he did it. And then obviously, second shot went left of the green, up and down it, down on that knee, and the rest is history. But yeah, the Welsh wizard, a bit of a legend. Brilliant. Alright, I'm going to talk about Louis Ustedesen. All right. One of the most amazing golf swings. I think we'll all agree we all loved it. If he didn't admire that golf swing, well, you know, there's something wrong with you, I think. But anyway, he won the Open Championship 2010. Actually loves St Andrews because he came close five years later and he lost in a playoff to Zach Johnson. He was supported by Ernie Else when he was up and coming, when he couldn't really afford to do things. He's known for his incredibly calm and composed temperament on the course, which served him well throughout his career. And Paul, you'll be pleased that I'm mentioning him because obviously he is South African, and we know you have a distinct love for South Africans and South Africa. But he's one of the only players to finish runner-up in all four majors. The unwanted second place Grand Slam. He's got an incredible six runner-up finishes in majors on top of his one win. The 2012 Masters were I actually backed him to win. And it cost me two and a half grand when Bubba hit that beautiful, amazing recovery shot. I was getting up to watch it and I turned the TV on and I missed him teeing off. And all of a sudden, he's on the third hole and he's in the lead because he albatrossed the second hole in that final round to take the lead. That albatross was only the fourth albatross in Masters history, and it was the first one on that hole. So Louis, amazing player, lovely guy. One of the things that I remembered about him when he won that 2010 open, somebody said to him, You're going to go out and buy a Lamborghini or a Ferrari? He said, No, I'm going to get a nice John Deere tractor for the farm. And I just thought that summed him up. It's just amazing to me that he had that many second place finishes. And yeah, he could have had five or six, couldn't he, quite easily.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

And then that's that whole got a pure golf swing, but what's that difference?

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Was it the caddy?

SPEAKER_00 17:14

You know, there could be so many things.

SPEAKER_03 17:16

Or was it his laid-back attitude? Because there was footage of him on a private jet after one of these losses. And he's there and he's smiling away and he's singing away. A lot of people have been devastated. They'd have shut themselves in a hotel room for days. People would have been phoning them and checking on them. And he just he almost took it too well. Maybe that was it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

But isn't there something about nice nice people don't win or something like that, isn't there? Something like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

It must be really nice because I always finish fourth or first.

SPEAKER_03 17:48

Yeah. I don't know when the open is next at St Andrews. And I'm not saying put your money on in to win it, but it wouldn't be a bad shout for a top ten, would he? I don't know how old Louis is now. What is he? Early 40s? Go behind the line.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Oh, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:03

Anybody got anything else they want to add before we wrap this up? St Andrews is 2027. 2027, right? Yes. So we're not far away. It's been a good pod. We enjoyed that. Alright, well, thanks for listening. That's done. Well done, boys. Thanks a lot. Good job. If you've made it this far, we hope it's because you've enjoyed listening to Tommy Does Golf. To make sure you never miss our podcast, please hit follow. For more of our content or to get in touch, head to TommyDuzgolf.com. So until next time, no matter how you're playing, smile, laugh, and most important of all, enjoy the walk.