Wasn't there an Open (not the one he won) where Sandy Lyle hit 71 or something in high winds and rain while the field hung around 80 or higher?

Hagen was reputed to handle poor conditions well. Four Open championships in eight years speaks for itself.

He won the '29 Open at Muirfield in a high wind and rain the last day by switching to a deep faced driver, and was said to hit no drive over twenty feet high throughout the day.

Ken

Francis Ouimet.

I don't know if this puts him in the "best" category, but what about Davis Love III?

PGA win in the rain and TPC win in rain and high winds.  I forget how much better his final round at Sawgrass was than the field, but it was pretty big.

AD

How bout Nicklaus that year at St. Andrews?  

Always funny to see how much people base their opinion of Tiger's weather related skills on one round. It doesn't matter how he finished in many other events, he shot an 81 in a snowstorm so he sucks in bad weather.

George,

Can you think of a round where Tiger really excelled in bad weather?  As I recall, his 3 Open Championship wins, especially the last 2 at St. Andrews and Hoylake, were marked by warm temperatures and mild winds.  Also, to be fair, I don't think people were saying that Tiger "sucks" in bad weather, just that he might not be among the best ever in poor conditions--quite a difference, IMO.  

Isnt it a case that players dont necessarily play better in bad weather , its just that they dont let it affect them as much as others ?

Last July , standing behind the 3rd tee at Carnoustie , Stephen Ames and Sean O'Hair are waiting to tee off .

Suddenly there is a gust of wind and you can feel its starting to pick up .

Stephen Ames announces ""Well if they think I am f***ing staying out here battling with this f***ing s**t , f***ing up my swing for the rest of the f***ing week............F**k it , I am going in ![/i]

Missed Cut !

O'Hair should have take his cue from the movie Planes , Trains and Automobiles and said to Ames, like the clerk did to Steve Martin after he used the f-bomb several times, "You're f#*&ed"!

BTW, would it be a thread tangent or thread jack to ask who is the best foul MOUTHED golfer?

That would be Tiger.  

George,

Can you think of a round where Tiger really excelled in bad weather?  As I recall, his 3 Open Championship wins, especially the last 2 at St. Andrews and Hoylake, were marked by warm temperatures and mild winds.  Also, to be fair, I don't think people were saying that Tiger "sucks" in bad weather, just that he might not be among the best ever in poor conditions--quite a difference, IMO.  

Just off the top of my head:

- Won his 2nd Am in the rain against Buddy Marucci;

- Won at least 1 Bay Hill in the rain;

- 3rd in 98 Open at Birkdale, 1 stroke back, with very difficult weather on Thursday and Friday, can't remember the weekend specifically; for that matter, he was T7 at Carnoustie the next year, mentioned when someone suggested Lawrie;

- Won at Bethpage, rain & cold all tourney (I know, Sergio thinks Tiger got only good weather - well, consider the source)

I'm sure there are others, I just don't have the energy to track them down.

You are correct, I followed the time-honored golfclubatlas tradition of exaggerating when I said others said he sucks, but I'd say by only focusing on Muirfield round, the implication is definitely that he can't handle bad weather. It was one round; no one has a perfect weather in bad weather, I'm sure even Watson and Christy O'Connor posted a bad round every now and then.

He hasn't proven to be a Watson - yet. Give him time, all records will fall.

Quote from: Tom_Doak on January 21, 2008, 09:18:21 PM

I was staying at a friend's house in Chicago the week that Scott Verplank won the Western Open as an amateur.  Scott was staying at my friend's as well, for the same reason -- free housing!  

When he was ahead on Saturday evening and the forecast was for rain on Sunday, all he said was "I've had a lot of my best success in the rain."  And he went out and won it.  He'd also won the U.S. Amateur on a rainy final day.  So my vote goes for him.

BTW, would it be a thread tangent or thread jack to ask who is the best foul MOUTHED golfer?

The best I've ever heard in person was Steve Pate.  In 1988 I was able to attend the Master's for the first time from Fri-Sun.  I believe it was late in the day during the 2nd round...I thankfully witnessed an absolutely brilliant, expletive laced tirade on the 18th tee of Augusta.  I still chuckle about it today whenever I think about it.

A minimum of two out of the three evils...RAIN - WIND - COLD...are required for a round to be considered FOUL WEATHER...in my opinion...

Fair enough, in which case I'd argue 0 for 1 does not constitute a proper sample.

Curtis Strange in his prime could let go a few verbal bombs. Not always the Southern gentleman!