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Home / Sport / Golf

The best golfers yet to win a major

Dylan Cleaver
By Dylan Cleaver
Sports Editor at Large·NZ Herald·
17 Aug, 2015 03:20 AM4 mins to read

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Dustin Johnson has come so close to winning a major. Photo / AP

Dustin Johnson has come so close to winning a major. Photo / AP

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With his breakthrough win in the USPGA Championships at Whistling Straits, Australia's Jason Day has handed in his membership card to golf's most unwanted club - Best Player To Have Never Won a Major.

So who remains? We look at four golfers yet to cross the Grand Slam threshold. To qualify, they must have been on either the European or US PGA tours for at least five years and is still realistically capable of winning a major. That rules out Scot Colin Montgomerie, who might go down as the greatest golfer ever to have never won a major (senior titles don't count) and who isn't realistically going to change that now.

DUSTIN JOHNSON (USA)
World ranking: 7
Career wins: 11
Career earnings: US$29m
Best major result: 2nd, 2011 British Open and 2015 US Open

Johnson has the sort of game that weekend hackers drool over. He can bomb the ball extraordinary distances and has become a master of taking early leads at grand slam tournaments... and a master of blowing them too.

Johnson should have won the last time the PGA Championship was held at Whistling Straits but forgot the rules when holding a late lead. He should have won this year's US Open at Chambers Bay this year but three-putted the last from a handy distance.

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Johnson is a divisive figure in the ultra-conservative world of golf. He has taken time off the tour to deal with personal issues, which most believe related to positive drugs tests he had recorded. With a famous father-in-law, Wayne 'The Great One' Gretsky, on hand for advice it is hoped the 31-year-old has put his wild days behind him.

Everyone knows he has the game to win multiple major championships, it remains to be seen if he has the strength of mind.

SERGIO GARCIA (Spain)

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Sergio Garcia. Photo / AP
Sergio Garcia. Photo / AP

World ranking:

10

Career wins:

27

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Career earnings:

$40m

Best major result:

2nd, 2007 and 2014 British Open, 1999 and 2008 PGA Championship

Garcia turns just 35 next month but already it feels like the window on his major championship window is closing fast.

For all his brilliance, Garcia has won just twice on the PGA Tour in the past 10 years and it seems like a lifetime ago that he dueled with Woods on the last day of the 1999 PGA Championship and it looked like the two of them represented the future of the sport (Woods would inevitably win, Garcia finished second).

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Known as an excellent ball striker, Garcia has endured long periods of angst with his putter and it is this weakness, as well as well as bouts of moody introspection, which has prevented him notching up his first win on the big stage.

Perhaps surprisingly, when the blowtorch is at its hottest at the Ryder Cup, Garcia has excelled.

RICKIE FOWLER (USA)

Rickie Fowler. Photo / AP
Rickie Fowler. Photo / AP

World ranking:

8

Career wins:

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4

Career earnings:

$19m

Best major result:

2nd, 2014 British Open, 2014 US Open

He's just 26 and his game is still developing, so few doubt the outrageous talent of Fowler will eventually prevail. But we've said that about others too.

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As Woods pre-eminence during the 2000s prevented a number of extremely good players getting their dues, there is a chance that the twin talents of Rory McIlroy and the stunningly consistent Jordan Spieth could close the door on a number of major aspirations.

While Fowler has top five finishes in all four majors he doesn't actually have a great pedigree of winning, with just four pro wins to his name. In fact, second is starting to become a specialty, with two wins on the PGA Tour balanced by eight runners-up.

HENRIK STENSON (Sweden)

Henrik Stenson. Photo / AP
Henrik Stenson. Photo / AP

World ranking:

9

Career wins:

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17

Career earnings:

$19m

Best major result:

2nd, 2013 US Open

A veteran of the European Tour, Stenson will be 40 by the time the next major season starts.

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Today, that is almost considered an invisible barrier to success.

If Stenson's window has been slammed shut, the fact he has never won a major will surprise many judges who thought his game was suited to tough set-ups as, when he is on form, he can overpower courses.

Europe is where he has seen the most success, though in 2013 he stunned the gold world by winning both the European and US Tour championships.

For the Swede, 2016 is shaping as a now-or-never season.

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