Who do you think is the best player to have never won a major? Sergio’s out. Rickie in?
Every Sunday night, GOLF.com conducts an e-mail roundtable with writers from Sports Illustrated and GOLF Magazine.
In his story about Sergio Garcia’s victory at the Masters, our Alan Shipnuck said that Rickie Fowler had inherited the dubious mantle of Best Player Never to Have Won a Major. That sparked a debate on Twitter, some saying that, at 28, Fowler was too young to be burdened with such a label. (Our travel guru, Joe Passov, also took a stab at the list post-Masters, placing Lee Westwood at the top.) What say you? Using your own criteria, who’s the BPNTHWAM?
Jessica Marksbury, multimedia editor, GOLF.com (@Jess_Marksbury): I’m going to give Rickie a pass here, because as good as he is, he hasn’t been in the hunt at a major championship that often. Lee Westwood is probably the best choice here, with three runner-ups, six thirds and 11 top fives—yikes! Poor guy! With three top fives and eight top 10s, I’ll cast a vote for Matt Kuchar as well.
Michael Bamberger, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Taking the term literally, I’ll say Doug Sanders. Allowing only for modern male players, I’ll take Lee Westwood.
Alan Shipnuck, senior writer, Sports Illustrated (@AlanShipnuck): Obviously I should recuse myself here but I would just like to say that I disqualified Westwood because to be the BPNTHWAM you actually have to be a threat to win one, and in the last three or four years whenever Westy has sniffed the lead in a big tournament his wedge and putter go haywire. At 43 he’s clearly way past his prime. Meanwhile, Fowler is ascendent.
Josh Sens, contributing writer, GOLF (@JoshSens): All good choices. Farther down the list, I might add Snedeker. And though it was only for an eye-blink, just five years ago, Luke Donald was the No. 1-ranked player in the world.
Joe Passov, senior writer, GOLF Magazine (@joepassov): I’ll defend myself here, and stick with Westwood. In terms of the player with the best record, still current and at least an occasional contender, with most worldwide wins, most top fives, top 10s and close calls in majors, it’s Lee. Sure, Rickie’s the better player right now, as is Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas, but “best player NEVER to have won a major” implies that they’ve been at it awhile–which they haven’t. Give ‘em time.
Source: Golf.com
