One-Hit Wonders Know It All, According To ESPN and Jason Sobel

I was listening to ESPN Radio on my way back from the grocer today and caught a wee bit of Jason Sobel and his opinion on Lucas Glover. It seems that Glover had made a bit of a move (he is currently -2 for the day and tied for second place.) Sobel was of the opinion that the US Open win in June had suddenly placed Glover in an elite class. I agree, but not the one Sobel selected.

Shaun Micheel, Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Zach Johnson, Ben Curtis, Mike Weir, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton, David Duval and Justin Leonard are some of the names that come to mind when I hum “My Sharona” by The Knack. These fellows won a major championship and have done nothing in the majors since then. Some of them have done nothing, period. Winning a major earns you nothing but a major. Sobel even suggested the same by claiming “you feel like you’re playing with house money because you won.” Instant cred, to paraphrase.

Until recently, Angel Cabrera fit into that category, then he won (or received) the Masters in April. How did he win? He hung around and made one amazing par. There are others, like Lee Janzen and Andy North, who won the same major twice. Hale Irwin won it three times, then dominated the Senior Tour like no other. Irwin did the same as Cabrera, first making one amazing shot to get into a playoff, then hanging around to destroy Mike Donald’s professional golfing life.

My point? One major makes you better than 100% of the rest of us at golf and makes you the envy of Colin Montgomerie, MacDonald Smith, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Kenny Perry, Doug Sanders and many other greats who never won what others consider the big one. It does not prove that you can handle the pressure (Retief at Pinehurst is a prime example, although he has two majors.) To suggest that Glover will handle the pressure as a by-product of his Open victory is disingenuous.