Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros, J.T. Poston and Davis Love III (pictured clockwise from top left) are four notable champs from one of the PGA Tour’s most enduring events.
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They can’t all be gems. Not every PGA Tour event finishes with a sparkling, marquee winner. Oh, the winner always played sensational golf that week but sometimes, in the eyes of the public, a lesser-known winner can feel like a dud.
This week’s Wyndham Championship, long known as the Greater Greensboro Open, dates to 1938 and has a star-studded cast of Hall of Fame champions. There are also several obscure or forgotten names such as Mike Springer, Trevor Dodds, Art Doering, Earl (not Payne) Stewart, Dave (not Dale) Douglas and Arjun Atwal. One Frank Nobilo, now known for his CBS golf commentary, is also Wyndham winner. (No, we’re definitely not calling him a dud.)
With apologies to those who didn’t make the list, including two-time Wyndham winners Doug Sanders, George Archer and Danny Edwards; Hall of Famer Gary Player; and Craig Stadler, who romped to victory by six shots, here are the best Wyndham winners over 84 years based on score, fame factor, total wins, historic significance and a complex metric The Ranking likes to call “Cuz I Said So” …
10. The Geibergers, Al and Brent (Field Entry)
Only a handful of father-son duos have each won a PGA Tour event but the Geibergers raised that bar by each winning the Wyndham. Al, also known as Mr. 59 for being the first to fire that score in competition, won it in 1976. Brent matched the feat in 2004. Peanut butter sandwiches for everyone. (Dated reference alert: Al packed peanut butter sandwiches in his golf bag when he won the 1966 PGA Championship) …
9. J.T. Poston
This Western Carolina University alum knows how to go low. He shot a 62 in each of his two PGA Tour wins — the other was the John Deere Classic. All he did at the Wyndham was shoot 258, 22 under. Only three lower 72-hole totals have ever been posted on the tour. Two wins? The Poston Always Rings Twice …
While he is best known for losing a U.S. Open playoff to Tiger Whatshisname at Torrey Pines, Mediate is a two-time Wyndham champ, finishing first in 1993 and 2002. In ’02, he was the highest ranked player in the field, a likely first for him. “I remember being ranked 12th in the world in 2002 and none of the 11 guys ahead of me were playing Greensboro that week,” Mediate told PGATour.com in 2015. “Golf Channel reminded me of that early in the week, which I didn’t need to hear, but I went out and won, which was cool.” This Rock was on a roll …
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7. Davis Love III
At 51, Love became the third-oldest tour winner in 2015. Even better, Tiger Woods was in the field, playing because he needed a win to make the FedEx Cup playoffs the following week. Woods was two shots off the lead going into the final round but a triple bogey at the 11th ended his run. Love, ranked 186th in FedEx Cup points, used the win to make the playoff series. “Any victory when you’re over 50 is going to be really sweet,” Love said then. It was his last tour win. How do you like him now, Tiger? …
6. Billy Casper
The Greater Greensboro Open, as it was known in 1968 when Casper won it for the second time, was played the week before the Masters. So it was a big deal as far as seeing who was in form, although it wasn’t necessarily a great predictor. Casper tied for 16th. He would win the Masters two years later. Notable in ’68, though, was that he shot 267, the lowest score on tour so far in ’68. But at the Masters, Casper was ghosted …
5. Ben Hogan
What tournament wouldn’t want Hogan’s name on its champions list? Hogan won it in 1940 in classic Hogan dominant fashion. He finished nine shots ahead of Craig Wood, who famously lost the Masters playoff to Gene Sarazen following Sarazen’s iconic double eagle but would win the Masters in 1941. Ben there, won that …
4. Seve Ballesteros
It was a week before Seve’s 21st birthday in 1978 when he became the first foreign player to win in his PGA Tour debut. Seve had already played in a Masters the year before, but Greensboro was his first tour appearance. He’d been offered a full PGA Tour membership by commissioner Deane Beman, a move that angered many rank-and-file tour players, but Ballesteros turned it down. He won the British Open the next year and the Masters in 1980. What if … ?
3. Sandy Lyle
The Scot was clearly the best golfer on the planet for a few years in the mid-’80s and he showed it by winning in Greensboro in 1986 and ’88. He won the latter after Ken Green missed a three-foot putt on the 72nd hole, then Lyle beat him on the second playoff hole. It was a big win, Lyle said, because he figured it would get him in the gigantic-purse event, the $2 million Nabisco Championship in November at Pebble Beach. Two million, big money once upon a time …
2. Byron Nelson
The Wyndham has so much history it’s almost laughable. Nelson captured the Greater Greensboro Open twice, the second time in 1945. That was golf’s ultimate year. Nelson won 18 times in ’45, including his record 11 straight. The GGO was the third of his 11 in a row and Nelson had a cakewalk, winning by eight. Yes, Greensboro got a full Nelson …
1. Sam Snead
The man affectionately known as The Slammer won the Greensboro tournament a record eight times. The only other golfer to do that was Tiger Woods, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone eight times. Snead’s first Greensboro win was in 1938, the last in 1965. Only Raymond Floyd had a longer stretch between his first and last wins anywhere, nearly 29 years, edging Snead for the mark by a mere five months. Maybe the tournament should rebrand itself as the Sam Snead Wyndham Slammer Classic …
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