Golf's greatest closers

Having been impressed by Adam Scott’s final round at Firestone, I was thinking about how difficult it must be to ‘close out’ a pro tournament when going into the final day in the lead.

Normally this sort of debate centres around the guys who fall apart on the final round or final hole but I was wondering, who are golf’s greatest closers? The guys and girls who were/are notoriously good at leading from the front, and not letting their advantage slip? And how about you guys, do you consider yourself good or bad at maintaining a lead?

Love him or Loathe him greatest closer in the modern game Tiger Woods. (but steve williams would have you believe it was him doing the closing)

As for myself, i;d say my closure rate is pretty good

Woods, whoever the caddie.

Second part of question not applicable as I never have a lead.

Unless you are playing in big amateur events - over 36 holes or more - how do you know whether you are in the lead?

They don't have leader boards at my club for the monthly medal.

Agreed, Woods is unsurpassed in the modern era for getting the job done.

I'm generally not too bad at closing out, come back from bad positions a few times in matchplay to sneak a win. Although I was once 4 up with 5 play play and finished par, par, bogey, par par to lose the match to birdie, birdie, par, birdie, birdie!

heard a stat last night that Scott is now 6 wins from 8 having lead after 54 holes. thats a pretty impressive stat in anyones book.
post the TW era the only good closer i can think off in the mens game is Martin Kaymer.
I'd rank myself alongside Jean Van De Velde as a closer
i used to be pretty good at it but I lack the short game confidence these days!

Zach Johnson, Steve Stricker are good at closing things...................
Jason Day will be...............................

Well said George.
When I could play I used to be pretty good at working out what score would win a 36 holer.
Won about 4 or 5 in my prime and each time I was spot on except for one occassion when I thought I was well in the lead. I was cruising the last four holes thinking 4 pars would win it. Finished with three birdies and a par and got the shock of my life to find that I had won by a shot.
Another biggish 18 hole event at a championship course my pal came out to tell me on the 16th tee that three pars will win it. I was second last off.
Finished par double double. So not such a good finisher there eh.

Doon the Water wrote:Well said George.
When I could play I used to be pretty good at working out what score would win a 36 holer.
Won about 4 or 5 in my prime and each time I was spot on except for one occassion when I thought I was well in the lead. I was cruising the last four holes thinking 4 pars would win it. Finished with three birdies and a par and got the shock of my life to find that I had won by a shot.
Another biggish 18 hole event at a championship course my pal came out to tell me on the 16th tee that three pars will win it. I was second last off.
Finished par double double. So not such a good finisher there eh.

That really bl00dy annoys me. I had a well-meaning playing partner keep nudging me in last Friday's Stableford and whispering; your doing really well [you bald scrote] another 3 good holes and you're definitely going to win today and you'll get a handicap cut definitely. Result; double, bogey, bogey, blobby - 35 pts very average, do not past go, thank you very freeking much you well-meaning f***er

no shanks.
On that occasion I didn't really mind as that was more or less where I thought I was. I always used to try and live in the present on a golf course.
The dropped shots were down to bad luck rather than bad play.
Something that I had a hard job explaining to my faither that night as he thought that I had bottled it.

Woods was/is a great closer, Nicklaus was none too shabby either although most of the time he would charge from behind so probably only had closing pressure over the last few holes most of the time.

Good point made earlier, in medals/drawn events you don't really have a clue and I've never been in contention after 18 of 36, so in that format I don't know, all I will say is that I have won a big drawn event and a couple of medals on countback which means in theory that I've had a strong back 9 whilst on a good score. In matchplay though I'm certainly not prone to losing a lead (in singles, 4somes & 4bbb) only very very very rarely have I/we lost after leading at the turn.

I came second in a stableford 18 hole event a week or so ago. I pretty much knew, given the conditions, that I was there or there abouts, and although I didn't 'know' I needed to hole my 10 footer on the last to win (hit it where I saw it but it was a bad read), I wasn't at all surprised to find out I'd lost on countback despite 20 points on the way back. I think we all know what constitutes a good score given the conditions on the day, don't we?

SmithersJones wrote:I think we all know what constitutes a good score given the conditions on the day, don't we?

Agreed. Even if you don't know for sure you've got a pretty good idea if you're in the running.

I don't even think 'closing' has to apply to comps - how about when you're on track for a PB? Or your a few holes away from winning some cash? I must admit I've made several double bogeys on the 18th when it mattered. Part of me knows that if I was a pro I'd probably be a Van De Velde .

Agree, Tiger is in a league of his own.

hend085 wrote:I'd rank myself alongside Jean Van De Velde as a closer !

If we were to make a list of bad closers, it would contain Vande Velde (only one occasion though), Dustin Johnson, plus most English tour players.

Always thought Faldo was a good closer. He had that ability to grind out pars to win majors. I always kinda liked the guy as well.

Faldo had the mentality and you can't look past Woods over the recent generation of players. As someone has already mentioned, Kaymer would be my tip for the next best "closer" in the pro game. When he gets a sniff of the lead he just seems to be so ruthless and his naturally consistent game is ideal to turn to when the pressure's on.

I have always thought that Faldo and Scumacher were hewn from the same block of wood. Both driven and focused to win and caring not a jot about popularity from peers of public.

Both great champions but sometimes overly inward looking