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Monty's near-misses
Steven LynchMay 6, 2014
Who's the best golfer never to have won a major? asked Jerry Langham
The fashionable answer these days is Colin Montgomerie, the popular Scot who won 31 events on the European Tour (only three men have won more often) but famously never won a major. Monty was the runner-up in five majors - a record for someone who never won one - including two which he lost in play-offs (the 1994 US Open and the 1995 PGA).
Lee Westwood has so far won 23 events on the European PGA Tour (and two in America) without ever lifting a major championship, while Miguel Angel Jimenez has won 20.
Harry Cooper, a naturalised American who was born in Surrey, holds the American record - he won 31 events on the PGA Tour, but never quite won a major - he was second in three, including the Masters and US Open in 1936.
Another contender is the Australian Bruce Crampton, who finished second in four majors - the Masters and US Open in 1972, and the PGA in 1973 and 1975. The man who finished ahead of him on all four occasions was Jack Nicklaus. Crampton was also third in the PGA in 1963 ... and Nicklaus won that one too.
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