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Every Professional Golf Star Who LOST IT ALL Explained in 20 Minutes
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David Duval. This isn’t just a story about a golfer who fell off. This is about a man who reached the absolute pinnacle of the sport and then disappeared so completely you’d think he entered witness protection. Let’s go back to 1999. Tiger Woods is dominating headlines. But there’s another American absolutely tearing up the golf world. David Duval wasn’t just good, he was world number one. Think about that for a second. In the Tiger Woods era, this guy actually took the top spot. Duval led the PGA Tour money list in 1998, achieved the number one ranking in March 1999, and did something almost mythical. Shot a 59 in the final round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. For non-golf fans, that’s like pitching a perfect game in the World Series. It just doesn’t happen. Then came his crowning moment at Royal Letham and Saint Ans in 2001. Duval fired closing rounds of 65 and 67 to win the open championship by three strokes. Finally, his major breakthrough. The guy who always wore those wraparound sunglasses was officially golf royalty. This was supposed to be the start of something legendary. Instead, it was the end of everything. Following that open championship victory, Duval never won again on the PGA Tour. Not once. His game completely fell apart thanks to a perfect storm of injuries, back problems, wrist issues, and even vertigo, which is a nasty balance disorder that makes it impossible to focus. By 2004, he dropped from world number one to outside the top 400. By 2011, he lost his full PGA Tour card. The dominant star was gone, replaced by a guy who couldn’t make cuts on sponsor exemptions. The craziest part, Duval’s swing didn’t dramatically change. His talent didn’t evaporate overnight. His body just betrayed him. And the confidence that once made him Tiger’s biggest rival vanished into thin air. David Duval’s story is one of golf’s biggest what-ifs. One amazing major win, then a steep fall and years of struggle because sometimes even the brightest stars don’t burn forever. Ian Baker Finch. If you thought Duval’s collapse was bad, buckle up. This might be golf’s most heartbreaking disappearing act. Imagine winning the biggest tournament of your life and then suddenly forgetting how to play the game you love. That’s the mystery of Ian Baker Finch. Back in 1991, this Australian was on fire at the Open Championship at Royal Burkdale. He played some of the best golf ever seen in a major, shooting closing rounds of 64 and 66. That was enough to beat the field by two shots and win his only major championship. It was the kind of victory every golfer dreams of. Totally unstoppable and unforgettable. But after that amazing win, things took a turn for the worse. And when I say turn for the worse, I mean his game didn’t just decline, it completely disintegrated. This wasn’t just a little slump or rough patch. Baker Finch had a serious mental breakdown that affected everything about his game. The strange thing was he could still hit perfect shots on the practice range. But when it came time to compete, it was like his confidence completely disappeared. Things got so bad that in 1995 and 1996, he either missed the cut, withdrew, or was disqualified in every single PGA Tour event he played. A total of 29 tournaments. That’s almost impossible to imagine for a former major champion. The lowest point came in 1997 at the Open Championship at Royal Trune. Baker Finch shot a shocking 92 in the first round, the worst score ever by a former open champion. He withdrew before the next round and later admitted he cried in the locker room after that round. Ian Baker Finch went from being the king of the course to nothing. He had everything, lost everything, and became the perfect example of how quickly golf can destroy even its greatest champions. Anthony Kim, a name you probably haven’t heard in years, is Anthony Kim. But in 2008, he was supposed to be the next big thing. He had the swagger, the game, and the hype was off the charts. He was winning faster than almost anyone not named Tiger Woods. And then he vanished. What happened to Anthony Kim is one of golf’s greatest mysteries and why some now consider him one of the sport’s biggest disappointments. In 2008, he was on fire. Kim became the first American under 25 to win twice in one PGA Tour season since Tiger Woods in 2000. And then came the RDER Cup at Valhalla. Kim embarrassed Rder Cup legend Sergio Garcia 5 and four in the opening Sunday match, helping Team USA win their first Rder Cup since 1999. Ranked sixth in the world at just 23, Kim wasn’t just another young talent. He was supposed to be America’s answer to golf’s boring image. And then he vanished in 2012. He tore his Achilles and had surgery. The timeline said 9 to 12 months, but he never came back. Not once. Why? Well, that’s the sketchy part. Rumors say he had a 10 to20 million insurance policy that would only pay out if his injury was career ending. And if he ever swung a club in a tour event again, the policy would be void. So Anthony Kim, who could have been a legend, basically got paid millions to disappear. He went from being golf’s next superstar to a ghost story players tell rookies about the guy with the massive belt buckles and the swagger to match just gone. Michelle Wi. I know what you’re thinking. Five LPGA wins and a major doesn’t sound like someone who lost it all. But hear me out because this story is all about expectations versus reality. Let’s go back to 2005. The golf world is going absolutely crazy. There’s this 15-year-old girl from Hawaii who’s about to pull off something that nobody saw coming. They called her the big wheezy. This girl could smash the ball 300 yards like it was nothing. Her swing looked just like Ernie El’s. Smooth as butter. She turned pro right before her 16th birthday in 2005. And man, the hype was insane. Everyone wanted to ride the Wiiwave. She signed deals with Nike and Sony worth more than $10 million per year. Yep, $10 million. That’s more cash than most PGA tour guys make in their whole careers. Everyone said she was going to be the female Tiger Woods. At the 2004 Sony Open, when she was just 14 years old, she shot 7268 and beat 47 men, including 18 PGA Tour winners. The hype was absolutely insane. But here’s the thing about hype. Sometimes it’s all smoke and no fire. Michelle had all the talent in the world, all the money, all the attention. What she didn’t have were the wins to back it up. Don’t get me wrong, five LPGA Tour wins, and a major is exceptional if you compare it to most golfers. Some players go their entire careers without lifting a single trophy, but when you stack that against the expectations, it falls painfully short. She won her only major in 2014, almost a decade after turning pro. And after that, she only won one more tournament in 2018. That’s a four-year gap between her biggest moment and her last. Injuries and the pressure of being a child prodigy all took their toll. The hype was real. The talent was real. But looking at the full picture, Michelle Wi was one of golf’s biggest cases of unfulfilled potential. Hunter Mayan. This one takes us to another vanishing act in golf, Hunter Mayhem. But we’re raising the bar, I promise you. Because sometimes the worst thing that can happen to a golfer isn’t a spectacular crash. It’s just slowly fading away without anyone really noticing. Hunter Mayan was the ultimate reliable guy. You know, that friend who never causes drama, always shows up on time, and just gets the job done. That was Hunter. He reached a career-high world ranking of number four in April 2012, which made him the highest ranked American golfer at that moment. From 2007 to 2014, he made it into every single tour championship. He won six times, played on multiple RDER Cup teams, and earned over $30 million during his career. Not too shabby, right? Then came 2014, and it looked like Hunter was making a big comeback. At the Barclays, he pulled ahead with three birdies in a row and sunk a clutch 20-foot putt on the 17th hole to win by two shots. Everyone thought, “Yeah, he’s back.” But that win ended up being his farewell tour. What followed was one of the strangest declines in golf. No injury held him back. No scandal rocked his world. No meltdown like we’ve seen with others. It was just a slow fade. Within three years, he went from winning tour events to losing his PGA Tour card in 2017. Between 2015 to 2021, Hunter managed just one top 10 finish and missed the cut more than 60 times. His longtime caddy and swing coach both think that having three young kids and enjoying being a stay-at-home dad played a big role in why he stepped back. Turns out the only thing Hunter Mayan really committed to was early retirement. From world number four to completely off the radar, all by choice. Sometimes losing it all isn’t a tragedy, it’s a decision. Yanit Tang. Next, we are looking at Yanit Sang. And if you’re not familiar with women’s golf, you might not realize just how dominant this woman was. We’re talking about Tigerwood’s level of dominance. By age 22, Sang had already won five major championships. Let that sink in. Five majors before her 23rd birthday. For comparison, Phil Mickelson didn’t win his first major until he was 33. In 2011, Sang won 12 tournaments worldwide, including two majors. She was the youngest player ever, male or female, to win five major championships. She spent 109 weeks as the number one player in the world and then nothing. Her last LPGA win came in March 2012. She hasn’t won anything since. From 2013 to 2019, her world ranking plummeted from number one all the way to number 919. What happened? The yips. The dreaded unexplainable yipped. Her confidence disappeared. Her putting stroke abandoned her. The pressure of being number one became too much. And just like that, one of the most dominant forces in golf history became a footnote. In 2019, she missed 14 cuts in 20 events. This is someone who used to go entire seasons without missing a single cut. Yanni Tangen’s fall wasn’t just a slump. It was a complete collapse of one of the most promising careers the sport had ever seen. From the fastest player to reach five majors to struggling to make cuts, all in the span of a few years, Charles Howell III. This one might surprise you because on paper, Charles Howell III had a pretty solid career. three PGA Tour wins, over $42 million in career earnings, and 20 plus years as a tour professional. But here’s the thing. Charles Howell III was supposed to be so much more. When he turned pro in 2000, he was being called the next Tigerwood. No pressure, right? He had just won the NCAA Individual Championship by a record eight strokes. His swing was textbook perfect. The hype was real. His rookie season, he won over $1.5 million, finished 45th on the money list, and was named Rookie of the Year. By 2002, he had his first PGA Tour win at the Michelob Championship. Everything was going according to plan. The next American superstar had arrived. And then mediocrity, not failure, not a collapse, just average. For a guy who was supposed to be collecting major championships, Charles Howell III became the king of the top 25 finish. He made cuts. He cashed checks, but he rarely contended. In 23 years on tour, he won just three times. In 73 major championship appearances, he never finished in the top 10, not once. Charles Howell III became the poster child for consistency without greatness. He made over $42 million without ever becoming the star he was supposed to be. And in 2022, after decades of grinding on the PGA Tour, he shocked everyone by joining LIIV Golf. The ultimate company man jumped ship, ending one of the strangest, what could have been, careers in golf history. Hal Sutton. Here is a name that might not be familiar to casual fans, but trust me, this is one of the strangest disappearing acts in golf history. We’re talking about Hal Sutton. In the early 1980s, Hal Sutton wasn’t just good. He was being called the next Jack Nicholas. In 1983, he won the PGA Championship at age 25, beating Jack Nicholas himself by one stroke. The torch had been passed. By 1986, Sutton had won seven times on the PGA Tour, including a players championship. He was ranked in the top 10 in the world and seemed destined for a Hall of Fame career. And then nothing. From 1987 to 1994, Sutton didn’t win a single tournament. His world ranking plummeted. His confidence disappeared. The guy who was supposed to be the next Nicholas couldn’t even keep his tour card. So, what happened? A perfect storm of swing changes, equipment issues, and personal problems. Sutton went through multiple divorces, struggled with his weight, and completely lost the swing that made him great. By 1992, he had fallen to 185th on the money list. The former next great one was now fighting just to stay on tour. But here’s where Sutton’s story takes an unexpected turn. After nearly a decade in the wilderness, he found his game again. In 1995, at age 37, he won the BC Open. From 1998 to 2001, he won seven more times, including another players championship where he famously took down Tiger Woods with the be the right club today shot. He had gone from next big thing to has been to comeback store. But the lost decade in the middle of his career, those years when he should have been collecting majors, they can never be recovered. Hal Sutton’s career is a reminder that in golf, nothing is guaranteed, not even for the most promising talent, Philip Francis. Here’s a name most casual golf fans have never heard of, but in junior golf circles, this guy was like the second coming. We’re talking about Philip Francis. If you followed junior golf in the early 2000s, Philip Francis wasn’t just a prospect. He was the prospect, the chosen one, the kid who was going to rewrite the record book. By age 14, Francis had already won over 100 junior tournaments. He was the US junior amateur champion, following in the footsteps of guys like Tiger Woods and Jordan Spe. Golf Digest called him the best junior golfer in America. His swing was picture perfect. His mental game was beyond his year. College coaches were practically camping outside his house, begging him to join their program. Francis eventually chose UCLA and everyone assumed it was just a brief stopover on his way to PGA Tour Startup. The hype train was at full speed and then nothing happened. His college career was decent, but not spectacular. He transferred from UCLA to Arizona State, but the dominance everyone expected never materialized. He turned pro in 2010. But instead of taking the PGA Tour by storm, he bounced around mini tours, never even earning his tour card. By 2013, just a few years after turning pro, Francis was essentially out of competitive golf. The Camp Miss kid had somehow missed what happened. It’s hard to say exact. Some blame burnout. The kid had been competing at a high level since he was 7 years old. Others point to the pressure of expectations. When you’ve been told you’re the next Tiger Woods since elementary school, that’s a heavy burden to carry. Whatever the reason, Philip Francis became golf’s cautionary tale about junior prodigies. The game is littered with kids who dominated at 12 but couldn’t make the transition to the professional ranks. Francis was just the most extreme example. The highest of expectations followed by the quietest of exit. The last time anyone heard from him in the golf world, he was working as a club professional in Arizona. The kid who was supposed to be winning major championships was instead giving lessons to weekend hackers. Golf can be a cruel game. Todd Hamilton. If you’re not a diehard golf fan, you might be thinking, “Who?” But for one magical week in 2004, Todd Hamilton was on top of the golf world. Hamilton wasn’t your typical overnight success. He was 38 years old and had spent most of his career grinding on the Japanese tour, winning 14 times overseas, but never making a splash in America. Then in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, something clicked. He won the Honda Classic early in 2004, which was surprising enough. But what happened next was the stuff of fairy tales. At the 2004 Open Championship at Royal Trune, Journeyman Todd Hamilton found himself in a playoff with Ernie L’s, one of the greatest players of his generation. Nobody gave Hamilton a chance. This was David versus Goliath, except David was a 38-year-old rookie who’d spent his career in Japan. But Hamilton pulled off the impossible using a utility club to bump and run around the greens. He outdooled L’s in the four-hole playoff to win the clar jug. It was one of the most shocking major championship victories in modern golf history. The golf world was buzzing. Who was this guy? Where had he been hiding? Was this the start of an incredible late career bloom? As it turns out, it wasn’t the start of anything. It was the peak, the absolute pinnacle. And the fall was coming fast. After winning the Open Championship, Hamilton never won again. Not on the PGA Tour, not anywhere. His best finish in any tournament after his major victory was a tie for 15th. Let that sink in. The reigning champion golfer of the year couldn’t crack the top 10 in any tournament after his victory. By 2010, just 6 years after hoisting the Claret Jug, Hamilton had lost his full PGA Tour status. He bounced between the PGA Tour and what’s now the Cornferryy Tour, never regaining the magic of that week at Trune. His five-year exemption from winning the Open ran out. And just like that, Todd Hamilton was back to fighting for his tour card, a fight he ultimately lost. Hamilton’s story is the ultimate one-hit wonder in golf. For one week, he played like the best golfer on the planet. And then, just as quickly as it came, the magic disappeared. Today, Todd Hamilton is remembered as an answer to a trivia question rather than for a stellar career. From open champion to afterthought in the blink of an eye. That’s how quickly golf can give and take away. From major champions who completely forgot how to play to can’t miss prospects who miss by a mile. These are the professional golfers who had it all and then watched it slip away. If you enjoyed this video, make sure to hit that subscribe button for more golf content. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you on the next
