Most PGA tour wins without a Major (post 1980)

Here is a list of players with more than 5 PGA tour wins post 1980 without a major. (please feel free to offer corrections)

Most PGA tour wins without a major

Kenny Perry 14
Bruce Leitzke 13
Wayne Levi 12
Steve Stricker 12
John Cook 11
Scott Hoch 11
David Frost 10
Mark McCumber 10
Stuart Applebay 9
Sergio Garcia 9
Dustin Johnson 9
Jay Haas 9
KJ Choi 8
Brad Faxon 8
Fred Funk 8
Loren Roberts 8
Brandt Snedeker 8
Matt Kuchar 7
Joey Sindelar 7
Bill Haas 6
Huntat Mahan 6
Rocco Mediate 6
Steve Pate 6
Rory Sabbatini 6
Jonathan Byrd 5
Luke Donald 5
Ben Crane 5
Dan Forsman 5
Jim Gallagher jr 5
Ken Green 5
Billy Mayfair 5
Blaine McCallister 5
Jasper Parnevik 5
Carl Pettersson 5
Scott Verplank 5
Jimmy Walker 5
Nick Watney 5
Mark Wilson 5


What got me thinking of this was Sergio racking up his ninth PGA tour win and therefore how far up this table he would now sit. In the best player without a major debate this list probably covers most of the candidates if we accept the assumption that 5+ wins on tour suggests you are good enough to win a major.

Sergio is well up there but actually there are a lot of players in the 7+ PGA tour wins without a major range. It would seem we are a little more harsh on sergio compared to the others in this category (maybe except DJ). Is it really fair to say that Sergio should have won a major compared to any of those around him on this list?

In general how many PGA tour wins do you think a players needs before it starts to look suspect that a major is missing from their CV? Do other worldwide wins really equate to predicted major success? Sergio possibly with a few more of them than others on that list. Another factor might be the span of those wins or periods of great form. For example Donald managed to win both money lists and still didn't bag a major while playing some of the best golf around.

What would be great to see is the average number of PGA tour wins for a major winner, and the standard deviation for that group if anyone has these numbers then please post.

Any other thoughts on the best player/most pgat wins without a major topic are also welcome.

Think he has underachieved on tour as well as majors (although how you can categorise his career as underachieving I'm not sure). However still one of the finest strikers of the ball I've ever had the pleasure to witness.

Anyone that has 8/9/10+ tour wins has not underachieved in their career whether they have a major or not. I dont see that a major win, should suddenly change your overall career status. Numerous major wins are what changes your career.

Has Sergio or Dustin underachieved, nope. 9 wins is bloody good in comparison to every one else. Would they swap their career for Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton or even John Daly. I very much doubt it.

There must have been some names you were surprised to find on that list Mac . . . . . ?

I imagine most on that list would like to have had one of Stenson's four wins: Players, WGC:MatchPlay, Tour Championship and DeutscheBank. And his 7 x Top 4's in Majors are pretty competitive also.

Of the US players, Kenny Perry (2 play off losses) and Steve Stricker (3 x Top 5's, 12 x Top 10's) have pretty good records in Majors also.

Would place Montgomerie, Stenson, Westwood and Garcia as the Top 4, though not necessarily in that order.

kwini

The surprise wasn't the individual names but rather how many players managed to rack up numerous wins without a major.

As for ranking them a start might be establishing the average SOF for the events won by each player. For example hasn't Stricker wracked up a few John Deers?

Without that data it is hard to compare someone like Stenson to those with more wins, but I agree limiting it in the way I did doesn't capture all the players who should probably have won a major.


A better measure might be average end of year ranking or a list of best OWGR point average per win for those with 10+ worldwide wins.

If anyone wants to provide that?

pedantic nitpick

Leitzke did win 13 times but only 10 times after 1980.
Levi did win 12times but only 10 times post 1980

FWIW, Comparing Historical OWGR numbers to current day OWGR numbers is not always an Apples to Apples comparison.

The World Rankings have been tweaked so many times over the last 30 years that todays ranking have little similarity with numbers from the 1990's

GPB

I am sure if someone had the time a conversion between old a new money could be devised.

Thanks for nitpicking, may as well get it right. I just had a look at last win data and added them if it was far enough into the 80's or later.

One amazing stat, to me as a Wayne Levi watcher anyway, is that Wayno never registered a Top 10 finish in a Major. 'Course, he turned down a couple of exemptions for the US Open and never played an Open Championship either.

As GPB says, comparison of owgr pts is pointless, positions are fine though. Golf World did a comprehensive evaluation of male golfers in PGA Tour events over the era you describe - worth digging up if you're that interested but criteria was a bit debatable.

One of Jay Haas' wins was in the 1970's

Two notable players playing today have not yet registered a top 10 in a major.

Bill Haas and Patrick Reed.  Reed is still pretty young but Bill Haas is getting a little long in the tooth to not yet record a Top 10 in a major

Stricker may have had a lot of top 5/10's but I never recall him being in contention.

theres a few names on the list there that i didn't realize were so good. McCumber being the most standout.

Interesting list, thanks for compiling it ... of those on it, who might still bag that elusive major? Kuchar, Garcia, Snedeker and Johnson would be my guess.