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Every EMBARRASSING PGA Tour Record Explained in 14 Minutes
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Every golfer dreams of record, just not these ones. From endless heartbreak to historic meltdowns, here are the PGA Tour stats nobody wants next to their name. Most PGA Tour events played without a win. Bobby Watkins 715 start. Imagine grinding week after week, year after year for decades, and never winning. That’s Bobby Watkins. He teed it up 715 times on the PGA Tour and never once walked away with a trophy. That’s more starts than many Hall of Famers with none of the hardware. To be fair, Watkins did win on the Champions Tour and internationally, but when it came to the big league, always the groomsman. He made plenty of cuts, earned decent money, and stuck around, but the win column stayed empty. If endurance got you trophies, Bobby would have needed a warehouse. Instead, he’s the tour’s ultimate Iron Man with a winless resume. Most career earnings without a win. Cameron Tringale, $17.3 million. Now, this one is confusing. Is it actually a bad thing? Cameron Tringale somehow made over $17 million on the PGA Tour without ever winning a tournament. Zero trophy, zero champagne spray, just direct deposits and T12 finishes. His career is a masterclass in consistency, cutmaking, and cashing check. But in a sport that defines legacies by victories, Tringale’s stat sheet is still missing the headline. It’s both impressive and frustrating. He’s made more money than some major winners, and yet no win to point to. If golf had a bluecollar all-star, he’d be it. He’s proof you can be rich, respected, and still oddly invisible in golf history. Most tour starts before first win. Greg Chalmer, 386 start. Greg Chomemers didn’t win on the PGA Tour until start number 386. That’s 18 years of tea times, travel, practice rounds, and polite clap before finally breaking through. His win at the 2016 Barracuda Championship was sweet, but it came with the label of one of the longest droughts in PGA Tour history. Chomers was no slouch. A two-time Australian Open winner, sharp short game, and always a tough app. But in the States, he just couldn’t put four rounds together at the right time until one magical week in Reno. His perseverance is inspiring, but 386 starts before a win, that’s a test of patience most golfers and accountants couldn’t survive. Quick pause. If you’re enjoying this deep dive into golf’s weirdest records, drop a like or comment below. It really helps us keep this channel rolling. Worst score to par on the final hole to win David Tom’s plus4 Wovia 2003. David Toms won the 2003 Wovia Championship despite making a quadruple bogey eight on the final hole. That’s right, he walked off the 72nd hole with a train wreck and still got the trophy. Holding a five shot lead, Tom’s hit it into the creek, chunked a chip, and had the kind of meltdown that usually ends in a handshake and a media no-show. But thanks to his earlier dominance and a cushion, the disaster only trimmed his margin of victory to two. It’s the worst final hole score to still win a PGA Tour event. Proof that you can play 71 holes of perfect golf and then nearly blow it all with one swing. Longest cup making drought, Kevin Staler, 2015 to 2023. Kevin Stadler, son of 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler, holds an unfortunate streak of 36 consecutive missed cuts on the PGA Tour. A stretch that lasted 8 years. From 2015 to 2023, injuries, swing issues, and inconsistent play plagued his game. The drought included seasons where he barely cracked one to two rounds before heading home early. It wasn’t just bad luck. He was miles off the cutline. To make it tougher, Kevin had once looked promising after winning the 2014 Waste Management Phoenix Open. But post injury, his comeback attempts just never landed. 36 straight Fridays spent packing up your locker instead of playing the weekend. That’s golf’s version of a recurring nightmare. Most miscuts in a single season. Mike Dunaway 1980. Most pros dread a couple missed cuts in a row. Mike Dunaway turned it into a whole season. In 1980, Dunaway missed a record 32 cuts in a single PGA Tour season. That’s not just a cold streak. That’s a freezer. It’s a record that’s lasted over four decades, and only a few have come close. Week after week, Dunaway couldn’t find the rhythm to survive the Friday chop. Some years just get away from you. But 32 missed cuts is almost statistically unbelievable. It’s the kind of season that makes you question your career, your gear, and maybe even your life choice. Let’s just say no one’s racing to break this one. Highest recorded score on a single hole. Kevin Na, 2011 Texas Open. Kevin Na owns one of the most viral golf disasters of all time. At the 2011 Valero Texas Open, he carted a 16 on the par4 9th hole. 16. It started with a T-shot into the woods turned into a hacking frenzy through branches, a lost ball, a whiff, a penalty stroke, and for good measure, he accidentally hit himself with his club. By the end, even Na was laughing. The whole thing was caught on camera and narrated in real time by Na and his caddy in total disbelief. While he’s bounced back with multiple tour wins since that 16 lives on in golf infamy, a painful reminder that no one is safe from total collapse, most withdrawals from a single tournament. John Dailyaly five times at the Genesis Invitational. Only John Daly could turn a tournament into a running gag. He’s withdrawn five times from the Genesis Invitational, more than anyone else from a single PGA Tour event. Whether it’s injury, poor play, or just Daly being Daly, he’s never managed to finish 72 holes at Riviera. And unlike most pros who view withdrawals as worst case scenarios, Daly seemed to treat them like pit stop. It’s not just bad luck. It’s part of the John Dailyaly experience. Golf fans either love him or shake their heads, but five withdrawals from one event, that’s not a stat you see on the media guide, and it sure isn’t going on the resume. Worst score to ever win. Sam Sneed plus five 1954 Greensboro Open. Sam Sneed is a golf legend 82 PGA Tour wins, a Hall of Famer, and a swing that was poetry. But even he had a record win that looked more like a local MUN weekend scorecard. In the 1954 Greensboro Open, Sneeed won with a final score of plus 5, still the highest winning score in PGA Tour history. To be fair, the course was brutal and the conditions rough, but plus five. In today’s world of 20 under shootouts, it’s hard to imagine. It’s one of those stats that makes you double check if it’s a misprint. Great win, yes, but also yike. Longest time between PGA Tour wins. Robert Gomez, 15 years, 6 months. Robert Gomez burst onto the scene in 1990, famously holding out from the fairway to beat Greg Norman at Bay Hill. He looked like a future star, but then nothing. He didn’t win again until 2005, a 15 and a half year gap between victories, the longest in PGA Tour history. During that stretch, Gomez battled swing changes, health issues, and prolonged slump. His comeback win at the Valero Texas Open was emotional and inspiring, but also a reminder of how brutal the tour can be. Some players chase a win for a year or two. Gomez kept going for over a decade and a half and finally found redemption. Worst strokes gained performance ever. Steven Bodic 2016 Farmers Insurance Open. In the world of advanced golf stats, strokes gained is the gold standard. And in 2016, Steven Bodic delivered what might be the worst modern performance ever recorded. At the Farmers Insurance Open, Bodic logged a negative 20.9 strokes gained total over just two rounds, losing more than 10 shots per round compared to the field. He shot 8281 in the two rounds and finished dead last in nearly every statistical category. Off the tea, rough approach shots, worse. Putting, let’s not even go there. It was a statistical implosion. A nightmare in spreadsheet form. He even got DQed for signing an incorrect scorecard, capping off the disaster with a clerical error. Brutal. Most missed putts inside 3 ft in a season. Lucas Glover 2018. You can drive it 330 yards, stick irons to 5 ft, and still be haunted by one stat, the short myth. In 2018, Lucas Glover missed over 20 putts from inside 3 ft. A staggering number for a pro. That’s tap-in territory, a distance where amateurs don’t even mark the ball. For Glover, the putting yips became a real televised nightmare. He battled through it with admirable transparency, eventually switching to a broomstick putter and claw grip. But that season, it was brutal. Every two-footer became a heart attack. It’s a painful reminder. No matter how good your swing looks, if you can’t putt, you’re a toad. Most top 10 finishes without a win in a season. Bry Bear 2003. Briney Beard’s 2003 season was the golfing version of a Shakespearean tragedy. He notched seven top 10 finishes, including a few close calls at winning, but never actually got the job done. Week after week, he was right there playing solid, cashing checks, climbing leaderboard, but no wins, no hardware, just a full year of all mode. For fans, Baird became the underdog you couldn’t help but root for, always hoping he’d finally break through. But despite the consistency, his win column stayed empty. That 2003 campaign might be the most successful winless season the tour has ever seen. A masterclass in most penalty strokes in one round, Tommy Armor III. 2003 Valero Texas Open. Tommy Armor. Three will always have a place in the record books, but not for something you’d brag about. At the 2003 Valero Texas Open, he racked up 10 penalty strokes in a single round. That’s right, double digit. The round included out-of-bounds shots, water balls, and unplayable lies. The full buffet of golf’s worst case scenario. His final score was an ugly 85, but it was the sheer volume of penalties that set this round apart. It’s rare for any pro to take even three penalties in a round, let alone 10. This wasn’t just a blowup hole. It was a blowup afternoon. Most times leading after 54 holes without winning, Ricky Fowler. Few players have been under the Sunday spotlight as often and come away empty like Ricky Fowler. In the early 2010s, Fowler held multiple 54 hole leads, but struggled to seal the deal. He’d play brilliantly through Friday and Saturday, only to falter when it mattered most. Whether it was nerves, unlucky breaks, or someone else going nuclear, Ricky developed a reputation for being close but not clutch. Fans love him. The tour markets him, but for years he just couldn’t quote. It’s improved lately, but the legacy of near misses is still part of the Ricky conversation. A stat that once looked like it might define him. Longest gap between first and second cuts made. Richard S. Johnson. Richard S. Johnson made the cut in his very first PGA Tour start and then nothing. He went nearly 2 years before making another cut, setting a bizarre record for the longest gap between a first and second made cut. That’s the golfing version of hitting a home run in your first atbat, then striking out for two full seasons. It wasn’t due to lack of effort. Johnson kept teeing it up, grinding through qualifiers, and chasing static. But the consistency just wasn’t there. Eventually, he carved out a decent career, including a win in 2008. But that early drought, it’s a stat that haunts media guide and rookie nightmare. Most runner-up finishes without a win. Colin Montgomery, Bry Baird, and Bobby Watkins. Sick. When I started putting this video together, the answer to this record was easy. Cameron Young, the 27-year-old, had piled up seven runner-up finishes without a single PGA Tour victory. That wasn’t just the most among active players. It was the most in PGA Tour history for anyone who had yet to win. Young had been so close so many times that best player without a win became an unfortunate tagline in nearly every broadcast he played in. But on August 3rd, Young finally slammed the door with his victory at the Windham Championship. Young not only claimed his first PGA Tour title, he also ended one of golf’s most unwanted streak. That win means he no longer sits at top this rather dubious leaderboard. So, who’s up there now? The record reverts to a three-way tie at six career runner-up finishes without a PGA Tour win. That group includes Bobby Watkins, the younger brother of Hall of Famer Lanny Watkin, who played over 700 PGA Tour events without a victory. Then there’s Scotland’s Colin Montgomery, who racked up 31 European Tour wins and five runner-ups in majors, but never broke through on the PGA Tour. And finally, Briney Baird, a journeyman who came painfully close multiple times, only to walk away with silver. So, while Cameron Young is finally free of this stat, these three still share the top spot in PGA Tour runner-up Futility. A record no player is in a hurry to break. And there you have it. The records nobody wants to hold, but someone had to. If you enjoyed this look at the darker side of golf stats, do us a favor. Drop a like, leave a comment, and subscribe for more deep dives from the golf world. Sometimes the worst records are the most unforgettable.
