No one has posted more runner-up finishes in the U.S. Open than Phil Mickelson.
But he can take solace in his four major victories, three of those at the Masters.
No player in the history of the sport has finished second more times in a major tournament than Jack Nicklaus.
But he is still the undisputed king of the Grand Slam events with no fewer than 18 claims on major titles.
Lee Westwood would like just one.
The 37-year-old from Worksop is making a career of finishing second. He’s got this horrible habit of getting close.
Westwood is “in the hunt,” as they say, and his performances in the majors have been a few rotations shy of securing the ultimate prize.
Lee Westwood plays bunker shot in 2008 Open at Birkdale. Photo by SN#1
He’s the perennial bridesmaid, who sheds a tear and catches the bouquet but in the end is just another hand to shake in the receiving line.
A little tournament called the Open Championship was contested this past weekend on the island that not only gave birth to golf but to Westwood himself.
The open rota this summer took the annual tournament to St. Andrews, a landmark to the Scots and a capital of the game to the world at large. But the English-bred Westwood, who hails from a town at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, was unable to produce at a major.
Again.
And it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Westwood’s name has been near the top of the board in the year’s big tournaments with regularity.
Westwood’s second this past weekend at the British Open is his second runner-up finish this year. That was Westwood chasing Mickelson at the Masters in April.
No one was catching Louis Oosthuizen at St. Andrews on Sunday, though; he nearly lapped the field with a seven-stroke victory. But it was Westwood, who somehow managed to secure another second with a fairly pedestrian 70 and was handed the thanks-for-playing Silver Salver.
No doubt he felt like chucking it into the Swilcan Burn and could very well use it for something other than as a display in his trophy case.
This story has been played.
In his last five major tournaments, Westwood can boast a two-pair hand of twos and threes.
At Augusta this spring, Westwood began the final round atop the leaderboard, but totaled 275 to Mickelson’s 272. Last year in the British Open at Turnberry, Westwood missed the playoff with eventual winner Stewart Cink and Tom Watson by a stroke.
A month later, Westwood enjoyed another third when Y.E. Yang outplayed Woods for the PGA title at Hazeltine.
And don’t forget 2008, when Westwood failed by one to gain entrance to a big-league playoff with Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.
You gotta figure Westwood is due to steal a major one of these years but then again no one saw Oosthuizen coming.
As the assorted electronic media stumbled over his name throughout the weekend, the talking heads still figured Oosthuizen would suddenly wake up and discover he was leading the Open and launch his drives into the Firth of Forth.
Didn’t happen.
Oosthuizen calmly toured the Old Course on Sunday to win his first major, rendering Westwood et al as mere footnotes.
One major remains on the 2010 calendar — the PGA at Whistling Straits — but that may push Westwood’s best chances to win his first major into next April. The last time Whistling Straits hosted a PGA, Westwood missed the cut.
That was 2004: a particularly fallow period for Westwood. He did not win a tournament anywhere that year and waited until 2007 to follow up his victory at the ‘03 Dunhill Links Championship.
The guy is currently ranked No. 3 in the world, but he might as well be 30th.
The worst title in golf is “best player to have not won a major.”
For Westwood, that is getting dangerously close to defining his career.
Great rebound: Another player lost in the Oosthuizen waltz was Rory McIlroy.
Remember him? The phenom, who shot 63 in the opening round and followed that with an 80 on Friday?
The 21-year-old from Northern Ireland closed very nicely, shooting 69, 68 on the weekend and pulled in with a T-3 with Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey.
That is McIlroy’s second third at a major. He also tied for third with Westwood at the PGA last August.
Go long: Billy Joe Tolliver posted a spotty record as an NFL quarterback, but he’s enjoying a second career on the golf course.
For the third time, Tolliver won the American Century Championship — the tournament for celebrity athletes in Lake Tahoe.
Tolliver posted 84 points in the modified Stableford system event. An eagle on the final hole of the tournament at Edgewood Tahoe put Tolliver 19 points clear of second-place finishers, and QBs John Elway and Tony Romo.
Pitcher John Smoltz and actor Jack Wagner also finished second. Charles Barkley was last for the fifth straight year with a score of negative 93.
Tolliver played parts of nine seasons with five NFL teams, throwing 59 touchdown passes and 64 interceptions.
Mike Scarr is the editor of Golflink.com. He can be reached at golflinkeditor@demandmedia.com.
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