Is “The Curse” in sports a legitimate entity?

Written by Mel Sole on November 11, 2016. Posted in Golf News

Is “The Curse” in sports a legitimate entity?

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Every sports team and player has had to endure “The Curse” at some time or another.  The Boston Red Socks come to mind with the “Babe Ruth Curse” and, of course, the ever-lovable Chicago Cubs, who finally broke the curse in 2016. However, another drought ended in Chicago just a couple of weeks later when the Irish Rugby team beat the New Zealand All Blacks for the first time EVER.  109 years to be exact!   So is “the curse” a legitimate thing, and who imposes the curse?  Alex Myers of Golf Digest gives us the top 11 players on the PGA and LPGA Tours who still have to beat their particular curse.

Is “The Curse” in sports a legitimate entity?

With the Chicago Cubs finally winning their first World Series title in 108 years, a look at some of the most dramatic droughts in golf history.

2006 at Winged Foot!

1. Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open

Mickelson has accomplished so much during his career, but the tournament he covets most still eludes him. Making matters worse is how many times he’s come painfully close to winning the U.S. Open — a record SIX runner-ups, to be exact. Of course, none was more heartbreaking than the 2006 event at Winged Foot in which Mickelson seemed poised to win the national championship for the first time — and a third consecutive major overall — until a disastrous double bogey on the final hole. “I’m such an idiot,” Mickelson said after. Or maybe you’re just up against forces too powerful to overcome. . .

1939 US Open at Philadelphia CC.

2. Sam Snead at the U.S. Open

Before there was Mickelson, there was Snead, another legendary player only missing the U.S. Open in his pursuit of the career Grand Slam. Snead’s four runner-ups in the event was the record before Mickelson came along and he did one better than Phil when it came to calamitous final holes. Needing a par to win the 1939 U.S. Open (Snead said a fan told him he needed to make birdie), Snead made a triple bogey on the par-5 18th at Philadelphia Country Club. Eight years later, Snead three-putted from 15 feet on the final hole of a playoff to lose again.

1977 US Open

Lopez’s brilliant career included 48 LPGA Tour titles and three majors, but she also finished with seven runner-ups in majors, including four at the U.S. Women’s Open. Her last chance came in 1997 when she became the first golfer to shoot in the 60s in all four rounds at the event — and she still lost to Alison Nicholas. “You know, all the tournaments I finished second in, I never really had an emotional feeling for second other than that U.S. Open,” Lopez told ESPN in 2015. “I really struggled to get over that. It took me quite a while.”

 

2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews.

4. The Calendar Grand Slam

Bobby Jones is in the record books for winning what constituted the calendar Grand Slam in 1930, but to this day, no one has ever won all four of golf’s professional majors in one year. Tiger Woods is the only golfer to win four straight, but his accomplishment, dubbed the “Tiger Slam” overlapped the 2000 and 2001 seasons. Ben Hogan is the only player other than Woods to win three majors in one year, winning all three that he entered in 1953. Jordan Spieth is the most recent player to have a chance. After winning the 2015 Masters and U.S. Open, Spieth lost by one shot at the British Open at St. Andrews. He came back to finish runner-up at the PGA Championship. Anyone pulling off this accomplishment is going to need fate on their side.

Another missed opportunity at Augusta National!

 

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