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Pro Golf’s Top-5 Greatest Over Achievers....


Forged4ever

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As a flip to WRX’s Gianni Magliocco’s nice article yesterday in his Top-5 underachieving Tour Boys, who would be your Top-5 All-Time OVERACHIEVING Tour Players?

http://www.golfwrx.com/612350/golfs-5-biggest-underachievers/

 

I get that to the Guys Gianni’s age there wasn’t a Tour Pre-Tiger, that it was just a bunch of yahoos chasin balls up ‘n down fairways, swingin with primitive woods that were actually woods and butter knives for blades and Playin for,  however how someone can make a list of Golf’s Greatest Underachievers and leave Tom “The Towering Inferno” Weiskopf off of it, and ya, I get that he won a Major(1973 Open Championship) and a Senior Major(1995 US Senior Open), though for as much suffering as Norman endured traipsing across Augusta’s majestic fairways, ole Tommy Boy suffered more and almost had a friggin aneurism a few times and suffered one more runner-up(4) than ole Gregory(3).

 

However, it’s not like Weiskopf, who Jack has said many times that if he had had Weiskopf’s swing that AT LEAST 10 of his major Runner-Ups would have been Victories and the two times that I heard him say it, once, in a presser at Oakmont and once at a table over lunch, he was as serious as a heart attack, never took Jack down head to head.

 

Weiskopf won the Canadian Open in 1973 and 1975, the latter win achieved in dramatic fashion with a one-hole playoff win over Jack, when Weiskopf nearly holed his approach on the 15th hole at the Royal Montreal Club’s Blue Course.

 

So, who would you say is your All-Time Top-5 Over-Achiervers?

 

And for those of you for whom Pre-Tiger Tour Golf is more than a rumor, please include your own list of Your Top-5 All-Top Under Achievers which can include from whenever to present day?

 

Stay Well My Friends & Have a Great Weekend?

RP

Edited by Forged4ever
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In the end, only three things matter~ <br /><br />How much that you loved...<br /><br />How mightily that you lived...<br /><br />How gracefully that you accepted both victory & defeat...<br /><br /><br /><br />GHIN: Beefeater 24

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Overachievers tend to be those from lower than middle class backgrounds or start playing golf really late as an adult. Then they win money, tournaments and majors and it's a great story.

Underachievers tend to be those that put up stellar careers as amateurs or in college and get labelled the next Jones/ Nicklaus/ Woods and then don't win as much as you would have thought.

 

 

OVERACHIEVERS (in no particular order)

LARRY NELSON: Took up golf at 21 after leaving the army and made the PGA Tour at age 27. Won 2 PGAs, a US Open and 10 total PGA Tour titles. Hall of Famer

CALVIN PEETE: Also took up golf in his 20s and had an arm that was broken as a child that was never properly reset. Led the PGA Tour in driving accuracy 10 straight years. He won 12 PGA Tour titles including a TPC.

CHI CHI RODRIGUEZ: Gave up carrying water in the sugar cane fields for caddying, because they earned more as a 7 year old. Won 8 times on the PGA Tour. Senior tour legend and Hall of Famer.

LEE TREVINO: Dad left as a toddler and worked cotton fields starting at age 5. also got in the game by caddying. Left the army on 1960, made money gambling for years and finally made the tour in 1967 at age 28. Won 6 majors and 29 PGA Tour titles. Hall of Famer.

BEN HOGAN: Another caddie yard Hall of Famer. Didn't win his first PGA Tour event (by himself) until age 27. 3 majors and 53 PGA Tour wins before the car accident and 6 majors in 11 PGA Tour wins after it.

GENE SARAZEN: Another caddie yard Grand Slam winner. Grew up in a poor Italian immigrant family. 7 majors, 39 PGA Tour wins and changed the sand wedge forever.

OK That's 6, but it looks like we need to bring back caddies.

 

 

I'll tackle underachievers later.

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Not arguing your list...just the parameters you noted. Guys that grew up poor may make your list but here on wrx it’s the short knockers. It seems every underachievers list is full of great ball strikers that lacked a great putter. So it’s always guys like Sergio that get knocked. The guys that achieved their scores more with putters and wedges are the overachiever type. Zach Johnson or Jim Furyk come to mind in that group.

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See Darth! That’s what I was talking about. :) Pavin was top of the world class short game and putter with quality, albeit short, ball striking. And yet he is characterized as a gritty overachiever while a Sergio, who owns the other half of the game, is an underachiever.

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Titleist TSR4 9° Tensei AV White 65

Titleist TSi3 strong 3w 13.5° Tensei AV White 70

Titleist TS3 19°  hybrid Tensei Blue/Titleist TSR3 24° Diamana Ahina

Titleist T150 5-pw Nippon Pro Modus 125

Vokey SM8 50° F & 56° M SM9 60°M

Cameron Newport w/ flow neck by Lamont/ Cameron Del Mar

 



 

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Tom Kite

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Ping i210 6i & s55 7i - PW Steelfiber 110s

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EvnRoll ER9
 

 

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To me it’s a guy grinding out wins with genetic disadvantages and not the prettiest swing ... like a Pavin.

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Ping G400 LST 11* Ventus Black TR 5x

Ping G400 3w 15.1* GD AD IZ 5x

Ping G400 7w 19.5* Ventus Red 6x 

Ping G425 4h 22* Blueboard HY 80x

Ping i210 6i & s55 7i - PW Steelfiber 110s

Ping Glide Wrx 49*, 54*, 59*ES, Tour W 64* SF 125s

EvnRoll ER9
 

 

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Gary Player. He outworked everybody while traveling the world to do it. Hard to believe he won 9 majors, but when he got near the lead on a Sunday he was like a dog without a bone. He wasn't intimidated by Nicklaus. Hogan overcame major swing flaws and just worked at it until he had the best swing on tour. And one of my favorites.... Padraig Harrington. He was a guy with a lot of guts and determination. Vijay is another guy that came from nothing and just worked harder than everybody else.

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At this point is he an under or over?But he was genetically blessed with a great pair of hands.

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Titleist TSR4 9° Tensei AV White 65

Titleist TSi3 strong 3w 13.5° Tensei AV White 70

Titleist TS3 19°  hybrid Tensei Blue/Titleist TSR3 24° Diamana Ahina

Titleist T150 5-pw Nippon Pro Modus 125

Vokey SM8 50° F & 56° M SM9 60°M

Cameron Newport w/ flow neck by Lamont/ Cameron Del Mar

 



 

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Yep, the youth of today sometimes don't have the same historical perspective, although golf history is there for all to appreciate.

My problem is I believe you get what you get, so I have a hard time arguing for or against, or coming up with criteria for under and overachievers. X100 on Weiskopf being the all-time underachiever in golf - he would probably admit his own demons got in his way.

But, from an "old" guy and make of it what you will:

Larry Nelson - who would have thought.Tom Kite - look at the guy, how did he win anything? But look at the guy, what a great golf swing, how didn't he win more? See what I mean, lol - which way do you go with some of these guys?Andy North - based on his record outside the U.S. Open everybody claims his wins were flukes. Well, they weren't, but I guess you could call him an overachiever. Or like Kite, why the heck didn't he win more, lol?Calvin Peete - maybe got more out of the physical hand that was dealt him than any other pro?Jack Fleck - Zach Johnson is a stone cold killer out there with a lot of talent so IMO not Iowa's best example of an overachiever, but Fleck? His star was the brightest when he took down Hogan as few ever did. I guess based on everything else he ever did that was his rising above his own level kind of moment?Could go round and round in circles on this, maybe I just did, haha.

 

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Hey Brother, I hope all’s well?

 

Bob Ford said the same thing!!

 

He actually said Norman & Vijay.

 

That flip side of that story that I told about Vijay spending 40-50 minutes with a member’s 12yo son who was down the line with Vijay when he was in town for a big 36 hole Charity event and Vijay had been in one of the morning groups, grabbed a Coke, changed shirts and spent the next almost 4 hours down on the line working on his swing AFTER spending five hours + on the course. The only break that he took, and the ball attendant down on the line said that he was gone less than 10 minutes, was to get a coke and again change his shirt, as it was a hot humid Summer day.

 

Aside from the average WRXer(or any golf fan) not realizing just how insanely talented a Tour Pro like YOURSELF is, they have no concept of just how talented that top echelon of Players like Vijay are, AND how hard the average Tour Pro, and I’m not even speaking to the Vijays, Tigers, Normans, Hogans, etc., works.

 

Also mentioned above, and this used to irk Pete as while he was Sam’s harshest critic, he stated emphatically that outside of Hogan, no one wiorked as hard as Sam did or hit as many balls as Sam back in the day, and he felt that Sam’s rep for having the most “God given beautiful swing on earth” combined with some of Hogan’s *sshole comments about Sam basically just showing up, grabbin his sticks and swinging away, not knowing or working on his swing, took away from just how hard he worked, and trust me here, Sam forgot MORE about the golf swing than the average TOUR PRO ever knew!!

 

Sam responded to a reporter once who asked him how it felt to have “the most god given swing on Tour,” and Sam chirped that the only thing that God had given him was a “mama and daddy” who instilled in him the will/drive to outwork everyone else. I saw Sam hit for hours on end at Pete’s range or the club, and I’m talkin 3-4 hour stretches and this was either before or after a round of golf and this was when the man was in his late 60’s-70’s, pre-stroke.

 

Thanks for droppin in Brotha👊

 

My Best,

Richard

Edited by Forged4ever
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In the end, only three things matter~ <br /><br />How much that you loved...<br /><br />How mightily that you lived...<br /><br />How gracefully that you accepted both victory & defeat...<br /><br /><br /><br />GHIN: Beefeater 24

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