Best Golfers, 1984-1996

[Bill Murphy]

The era between Watson's last major & Tiger's first. Just gonna throw out some names in no particular order. There'll be some overlap at the beginning & end, of corse.

Norman, Faldo, Ballesteros, Price, Strange, Stewart, Couples, Kite, Azinger, Lyle, Ozaki, Langer, Woosnam, Olazabal, Stadler, Crenshaw.

Just kiddin' 'bout Jumbo. /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif Which leads to a debate if the rankings back then were wacky enough to devalue The Gupp's long run at #1.

Nothing here to give Nelson, Trevino, or even Els a sleepless night, but some pretty fair country golfers nonetheless. I gotta go, but three quick thoughts:

- Few golfers have had a run like Price did from 92-94

- At least half of Faldo's majors came in part from unbelievable chokes by opponents

- Mickelson retires tomorrow & his career is forgotten in ten[if not five] years.

As you might guess, I'd take Norman by a mile[well, a yard or so] over this lot.

[Ray Zee]

norman, kite, all the rest are the same. the days of colorful golf are long gone i am afraid.

[HDPM]

Faldo is the top of that heap. Price was great those few years. I have never thought a whole lot of Norman. I probably hold his overratedness against him too much. I think he is comparable to Strange. And he had Clinton at his house. I have never liked Langer so I don't give him enough credit probably either. Didn't Floyd win as many majors in those years as Norman?
I worked the '85 PGA as a spotter for ABC. I got to sit on my tower and interrupt the producers' running gambling session and tell them when Nicklaus was getting ready to think about hitting or whatever so they could gamble on the outcome of the shot and maybe show it on TV. It was kind of interesting because there was a big overlap in eras there. Nicklaus, Watson, Floyd, Trevino, Ballesteros, Stewart, Kite, Crenshaw, Norman bla bla bla. The old guys tended to do well that week. The wild ones like Seve and Crenshaw didn't as I recall.

[olemissgolf]

I believe that Langer is the only golfer to have won an event in every year of that era. He is the most underrated player I know.

[Bill Murphy]

Mark James erred terribly in not selecting Langer for the '99 Ryder Cup. Hindsight is 20/20, but it could hardly have turned out worse. That team badly needed another stable, trustworthy vet.

[Bill Murphy]

Well, Faldo certainly stomped Norman the two times they were in the last group Sunday at a major. I'm not familiar enough with Faldo's record on the Euro tour to judge how it compares w/Gupp's PGA/Austra-Asian career. Faldo got gifts from Gupp, Hoch, & Cook[and Floyd, to a lesser extant], but that's not his fault.

There's no debating anything had Norman not projectile-vomited at the '93 PGA & Tour Champ & '96 Masters, nor dithered away the lead so he could get miracled at the '86 PGA & '87 Masters. He also needed to sack up at the '84 & '95 US Opens, & '86, '95, & '99 Masters; just like The Phold needed to at the '99 & '01 US & '01 PGA.

Norman loses points for Clinton as a houseguest, while Faldo trumps everyone with the 19 year old college golfer-hottie. She prolly won Doral '95, '96 Masters, & '97 Riviera for him. He's been crap since she left.

With a little luck, Stewart would've won both the US Opens Janzen did. Speaking of Lee, he also has a Players[like Norman & unlike Phold]. Where does he rank? Remember how Wadkins picked Strange over him for the '95 Ryder Cup? Whatever, Mickelson has a ways to go before his career is comparable to Norman's, although he has won the Mercedes, WSOG, & Tour Champ. I know Norman won the WSOG, but did he win the other two? I think Kite won all three, FWIW. Maybe Stadler did, too.

Floyd won a total of four majors; at least one in the mid '70's; can't remember if it was the US or British he didn't win[I ~think US]. Dunno if I agree w/your contention that the US is harder to win than the British. Trevino & Andy North don't think so! I believe Pavin gagged a Jug at some point. Steve Jones? But then there's Paul Lawrie, & Daly. TC Chen=Van De Velde. Comes down to styles, I guess. Faldo not winning a US Open isn't as shocking as Norman not winning the Masters, but it's close.

[andyfox]

Floyd won the U.S. Open in 1986 at Shinnecock Hills. Lanny and the immortal Chip Beck finished tied for 2nd. He did finish 2nd once in the British (tied with Crenshaw, Kite and Simon Owen) at St. Andrews in 1978.

Off topic, but one of my favorite golf facts is that Sam Snead won the Greensboro Open in (among many other times) 1938 and 1965.

[Bill Murphy]

I think I implied that Trevino never won the British, which of course he did, twice. Very surprising that Floyd never did, he was who I meant to say. I'm pretty sure Floyd came close to a Jug at least once. He won his first PGA Champ in 1969!

Just looked at lists of British & US Open winners since 1970; gotta give the overall quality edge to the Jugheads.

Ni Snead story. /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

[TobDog]

OK, my 2 cents worth:

Faldo, best as far as consistantly being good, he did win when others choked, but they did choke, and he did a great job of positioning himself top be there if that happened, he was not very aggressive though. Norman, probably the opposite he was very good but often pushed the gas pedal too hard and paid for it with a lot of second place finishes, remember you are not that great if you don't finish second much, see Jack's record, Tiger excluded. Ballesteros, was on his way out as Norman was still getting better, he much like Norman was aggressive, he could come from behind and actually win a tournament by almost willing it, but at his worst, he was horrible. Nick Price, later in that era Price was the best, I watched hiim over and over play aggressively and consistantly, I remember one of the Western Opens he won I was in Chicago, he teed off on #10 on Thursday, and by his 3rd hole, I knew, and if I remember correctly, a lot of people knew he was going to win. Price was a powerful force, you knew, you could feel that he was the closest thing to the 'Tiger domination' that I have ever seen, I never saw Jack play competitively