The Most Unheralded Winners on the PGA Tour in 2015-16
The most unheralded winners from the past year-plus on the PGA Tour are a motley bunch.
In one of its most common uses, unheralded means "appearing without warning or prior announcement; unexpected,"per Dictionary.com. Thus, all of these winners are unexpected in some sense, whether that's because they are rookies on tour, extremely low ranked in the Official World Golf Ranking or effectively has-beens.
In order to rank the 10 most unheralded winners from 2014-2015 and the early part of this season, we'll look at the golfers' OWGR ranks in the week prior to the win.
Here are the 10 winners nobody saw coming from the beginning of the last season until the present.
10. David Lingmerth: 2015 Memorial Tournament
1 of 10
OWGR before win: 212
Play leading up to the win: Wells Fargo Championship: Cut; Crowne Plaza Invitational: T33; AT&T Byron Nelson: Cut
The win
Trailing by three strokes entering the final round, David Lingmerth carded a Sunday 69 to set up a sudden-death playoff with Justin Rose. Lingmerth won on the third playoff hole, and the fact that he beat a major winner and top-10 golfer in the world head-to-head makes the win even more surprising.
9. Smylie Kaufman: 2016 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
2 of 10
OWGR before win: 226
Play leading up to the win: Nationwide Children's: Cut; Web.com Tour Championship: Cut; Frys.com Open: T10
The win
Seemingly out of nowhere, Smylie Kaufman torched TPC Summerlin, carding a Sunday 61 to win by a stroke. The rookie finished well ahead of the leaders, but nobody was able to catch him. Unheralded winner and a totally unexpected final-round blitzkreig.
8. Alex Cejka: 2015 Puerto Rico Open
3 of 10
OWGR before win: 285
Play leading up to the win: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: T34; Northern Trust Open: T67; Honda Classic: Cut
The win
At 44 years of age, Alex Cejka finally nabbed the first win of his career at the Puerto Rico Open. Cejka emerged from the first five-man playoff on the PGA Tour since 2005 with a birdie in the first playoff hole.
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7. Fabian Gomez: 2015 FedEx St. Jude Classic
4 of 10
OWGR before win: 290
Play leading up to the win: Wells Fargo Championship: Cut; Crowne Plaza Invitational: T27; AT&T Byron Nelson: Cut
The win
Fabian Gomez, who recently captured his second career win at the Sony Open in Hawaii, fired a final-round 66 for a four-stroke victory. The win came in the Argentinian's 70th start on the PGA Tour.
6. Padraig Harrington: 2015 Honda Classic
5 of 10
OWGR before win: 297
Play leading up to the win: Farmers Insurance Open: Cut; AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: Cut; Northern Trust Open: T56
The win
Padraig Harrington entered the final round of the Honda Classic trailing Ian Poulter by three strokes. A final-round 70 got the Irishman into a playoff with rookie sensation Daniel Berger. Harrington won on the second playoff hole for his first victory in seven years. At 43, Harrington would have been on anyone's list of "golfers who won't win again."
5. James Hahn: 2015 Northern Trust Open
6 of 10
OWGR before win: 297
Play leading up to the win: Waste Management Phoenix Open: T59; Farmers Insurance Open: T41; AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am: T29
The win
Dustin Johnson couldn't beat James Hahn in a playoff at the Northern Trust Open. Paul Casey was eliminated after the first playoff hole. Of the three golfers in the playoff, it was difficult to imagine the 34-year-old Hahn, having never won in his career, would emerge victorious.
4. Peter Malnati: 2016 Sanderson Farms Championship
7 of 10
OWGR before win: 349
Play leading up to the win: Frys.com Open: Cut; Shriners Hospitals for Children Open: T56
The win
Tour rookie Peter Malnati putted like a maestro at CC of Jackson, holing nearly 500 feet of putts en route to a one-stroke win over David Toms and William McGirt. For the No. 349 golfer in the world to win in just his 22nd tour start: unexpected indeed.
3. J.J. Henry: 2015 Barracuda Championship
8 of 10
OWGR before win: 426
Play leading up to the win: Barbasol Championship: T23; RBC Canadian Open: T41; Quicken Loans National: T63
The win
J.J. Henry, at 40 and 83 starts removed from his last victory, certainly couldn't have been expected to win the Barracuda Championship. However, Henry emerged from a three-man playoff with an eagle on the second hole.
2. Nick Taylor: 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship
9 of 10
OWGR before win: 566
Play leading up to the win: Frys.com Open: Cut; Shriners Hospitals for Children Open: T56; The McGladrey Classic: T86
The win
Rookie Nick Taylor fired a final-round 66 to beat Boo Weekley and Jason Bohn by two strokes at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Outside of No. 500 in the OWGR, Taylor would have been a surprise pick finish in the top 25, let along fire four consecutive sub-70 rounds to win.
1. Davis Love III: 2015 Wyndham Championship
10 of 10
OWGR before win: 613
Play leading up to the win: The Greenbrier Classic: T54; RBC Canadian Open: Cut; PGA Championship: Cut
The win
Once among the preeminent players on the PGA Tour, Davis Love III hasn't been a contending for years. When he started the pursuit of his 21st win on the PGA Tour last season, Love was 51 years old. A pair of bookend 64s made Love the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history.
Stats and tournament info via PGATour.com
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