There are two conflicting opinions concerning the quality of the field in the 2020 US Open. On the one hand, there are several opinions in the media that this field is arguably the strongest US Open field ever. Then there is the opinion of preeminent sports columnist Thomas Boswell, whose column on Friday in the Washington Post that while the current crop of pro golfers may constitute more “total talent” than any before it (a point not conceded by this writer), there is no golfer who appears to have assumed the mantle of Tiger Woods as a preeminent talent if not golf’s GOAT. Boswell points out that since 1975, only two golfers have won more than five major titles in their careers -Tiger Woods with fifteen, and Nick Faldo with six. Two others have won five – Phil Mickelson and Seve Ballesteros. As Boswell noted “That only gets Mickelson and Ballesteros in a six-way tie for 14th place on the all-time majors list.”
As any reader of this column knows, Jack Nicklaus is considered golf’s GOAT, not Tiger Woods. Putting that argument aside, which is it? Is this the strongest US Open field ever, or simply further proof that golf has no challenger to Nicklaus or Woods as a GOAT any time soon, and hence quantity does not equal all-time quality when it comes to golf.
Take, as an example, the statement in one media report on Saturday morning that “All nine of the top 10 world golf ranking players at the US Open made the cut (Brooks Koepka did not appear in the tournament).” On its face, a strong statement about the quality of the field. Well, drilling down below the fluff, between the aforementioned nine who made the cut (Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Webb Simpson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, and Adam Scott) only seven have won majors, and the seven majors’ winners have accumulated exactly 10 major titles between them. Interestingly, only three of those golfers (Rory, DJ, Webb) won a U.S. Open title, and a single one at that. (Winning just one U.S. Open is not shameful; golf immortals Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Tom Watson only won one U.S. Open apiece, and (famously) Phil and Seve never captured even one U.S. Open title.) Significantly, only Rory has won more than one major title among the above group.
The NBC Sports coverage (which has been execrable, by the way; in addition to the inane comments by the host of “analysts”, including the insufferable “Zinger” (whose comments might well be enhanced by a zinger once in a while) the saccharine Dan Hicks and the stunningly unfunny David Feherty) trumpeted Saturday that the last fifteen pairings included eleven majors winners with a total of sixteen majors victories. The phrase “damning with faint praise” comes to mind. Of that group of eleven champions only three have won more than one title: Bubba Watson (who won his only at Augusta, a venue in which long, errant drives remain unpunished – hello, Bryson DeChambeau – and, given the raft of young players who can hit the tee ball as far or farther than Bubba, with much greater accuracy, will likely not win at Augusta again; Zach Johnson (who won a Masters and Open title and is not likely to win another); and Rory, who may be stuck at four majors unless he can learn to putt better. And no one is destined to be considered a dominant golf champion, never mind GOAT, at any time in the future. Boswell may be correct.
As for the claim, that this was perhaps the strongest Open field in history, let’s pick an Open from the Golden Age of Golf (the “GOAG”), any Open, say the 1968 U.S. Open. The top fifteen pairings in that tournament on Saturday included the GOAT, Jack Nicklaus; a near GOAT, Gary Player (one of only five players with a career Grand Slam); Lee Trevino (the eventual winner of the tournament, the first of his six major titles); Sam Snead (still the all-time PGA tour titles winner at 82, tied with Tiger Woods); Billy Casper (two-time winner of the U.S. Open, once at Winged Foot in 1959, and 51 PGA tour victories); Julius Boros (two U.S. Open victories, three majors overall); Charlie Sifford, the Jackie Robinson of golf and Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree in 2014, and five other majors winners. Lurking just outside the top 15 pairings was the King himself, along with Hall of Famer Roberto De Vicenzo (winner of a record 230 professional tournaments worldwide in his career including eight on the PGA Tour and the 1967 Open Championship – not to mention the greatest exclamation in sports history, to wit, “What a stupid I am”). In sum, I will take the quality of this field from 1968 over the current U.S. Open field in a New York minute.
AMDG
© R. E. Kelly 2012 -2020
No comments:
Post a Comment