Major Success: The Be All and End All?

As the year draws to a close, the discourse will shift to retrospective reflection as journalists and golf fans contemplate what they have witnessed over the past twelve months. The Ryder Cup will be dissected and relived, the seasons of Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods will be analysed and the major issues surrounding golf will continue to be debated.

Sooner or later, the discussion will shift to England’s current crop, and journalists will conclude the careers of Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Lee Westwood will be a huge disappointment without a major championship to vindicate their respective positions atop the world rankings.

The be all and end all?

Major titles are the yardstick against which the career of any golfer is measured. Their significance is indisputable, but do we sometimes overemphasise the importance of winning one of the big four? Are they the be all and end all? The aforementioned English trio would love nothing more than to lift the Claret Jug, or don the legendary Green Jacket, but there is more to golf than major championship success.

The dissection of a career always starts with a look at that player’s major record, and so it should. But how often is golfing aptitude based on what is achieved outside of major competition? Todd Hamilton, Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem will go to their grave as major champions. How many of them would swap their careers for those of Westwood or Colin Montgomerie? I would hazard a guess at all. I’m not attempting to belittle what they have achieved, but simply asking whether a one-off performance should be held in higher esteem that a career full of regular success and unrivalled accomplishment.

Career achievement

Let us analyse the careers of some of the players mentioned this far. Micheel produced one of the best shots in history to secure the 2003 PGA Championship, and Hamilton defied the odds to defeat Ernie Els in a four-hole play-off to capture the Open in 2004. To this day, PGA triumph remains Micheel’s only professional victory. Granted, Hamilton was successful in Asia prior to laying his hands on the Claret Jug at Troon, but since then, he’s disappeared into the golfing abyss.

The above statistics are rather eye-opening. Enormous credit must go to Hamilton and Micheel for what they achieved, but it just goes to show there is more to golf than major titles. Since their respective victories, Micheel and Hamilton have amassed less money combined than Donald made last year.

Not all about money

Other areas also warrant deliberation, namely post-golf career, peer reverence and self-reflection. If and when Rose, Westwood and Donald decide to stop playing golf, they will have a multitude of offers on their plates, whether it be from golf course design companies, media outlets, equipment companies or publishers. Montgomerie, for example, has already released an autobiography, designed numerous championship-standard golf courses and forged a successful career as a Sky Sports commentator and pundit. Without wishing to be rude, I find it hard to believe anyone would read Sean Micheel’s autobiography, or hire Todd Hamilton in the Nick Faldo lead commentary role.

But perhaps the biggest factor in deciding anyone’s career status is how they are viewed by their peers; those who have spent decades on the same journey. Rose, Westwood and Donald, when they call time on their careers, will be remembered as some of the finest exponents of the game by all those that played alongside them. In 50 years, time, will anyone remember Micheel, or will his major victory be confined to the history books?

Whose career?

I’m conscious of being disrespectful to these players, and not giving them enough credit for doing something the vast majority of professional golfers could only dream of. The last thing I want to do is disparage their careers; I’m merely pointing out that, at times, we attach a little too much on winning a major or don’t pay enough consideration to other facets of the game. After Donald won both the European and PGA Tour money lists in 2011, he was lauded for a short period, and then asked if that would inspire a major win. How many people actually stood back and took in the enormity of his accomplishment?  

The fact of the matter is that everyone discussed has enjoyed more success than 99.9% of the world’s population. But looking objectively, who could possible claim Micheel and Hamilton have enjoyed better careers than the British quartet? If you asked every golf fan whose career they would rather have had, how many would choose the American pair? I’d even suggest that if someone offered Micheel or Hamilton the swap, they’d take it.

To be able to call yourself a major champion is what every golfer dreams about when embarking on a career as a professional. But the reality is there are so many top-class players in the modern game that anyone inside the world’s top 500 could feasibly win one of the big four. It just requires one week where every aspect clicks into place. But the one thing the Micheels and Hamiltons haven’t been able to achieve is consistency. It is one thing having a special week and winning a major; it is another spending decades at the top of the world rankings, representing your continent in Ryder Cups and winning tournaments all over the world. Winning a major is hugely significant, but it is only one component of a career. We’d all do well to remember that.