The decade in golf: NCG’s most unexpected major win

Steve CarrollDan MurphyMark TownsendAlex Perry

We might not have got the likes of a Ben Curtis or Todd Hamilton steaming through the pack, but there were still a few surprises in the major world

We look back on who rocked our major world the most in terms of throwing in an unforeseen big one…

Steve: Darren Clarke at Royal St George’s. Are you seriously telling me you’d have plumped beforehand for a 42-year-old whose only win the last three years had been at the Iberdrola Open? Just shows you that dreams can come true.

Dan: For many reasons, I think it has to be Sergio Garcia winning the Masters. For a start, most of us had sadly concluded he was unlikely to win a major.

And if he was going to win one then there was absolutely no chance it would be at Augusta. He had sulked, stropped and scowled his way around the place for years – and it isn’t difficult to tell when Sergio is unhappy about something.

Coming down the stretch it just seemed inevitable that he would come up short and Justin Rose, with his exemplary Masters record, would emerge with the Green Jacket. But that’s not how it worked out.

Mark: Zach Johnson winning the 2015 Open was pretty out there.

This was the week where plenty of us were dreaming of the third leg of the Grand Slam and then we got Johnson edging out Oosthuizen and Leishman in extra holes with Spieth and Day one short of the play-off.

Johnson is a stellar player but most of us had put him neatly in the box marked ‘One and done’ thanks to a sensational wedge game. He didn’t fit our photofit of an Old Course champion but the record book says otherwise.

Alex: If Hinako Shibuno doesn’t sweep this award then I don’t know who will.

I’m going to write this in capital letters because it needs the added emphasis: SHE HAD NEVER PLAYED A TOURNAMENT OUTSIDE HER NATIVE JAPAN AND SHE CAME HERE AND WON THE WOMEN’S BRITISH OPEN.

Not only that, she did it against a seasoned veteran in Lizette Salas and all the time had a beaming smile on my face.

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There’s a reason she was No. 3 in our 2019 Player of the Year rundown…

What major win surprised you the most from the past decade? Let us know in the comments below or you can tweet us.

About the author

Steve Carroll

A journalist for more than 25 years, Steve has been immersed in club golf for almost as long.

A former club captain, he has passed the Level 3 Rules of Golf exam with distinction having attended the R&A’s prestigious Tournament Administrators and Referees Seminar.

Steve has officiated at a host of high-profile tournaments, including Open Regional Qualifying, PGA Fourball Championship, English Men’s Senior Amateur, and the North of England Amateur Championship. In 2023, he made his international debut as part of the team that refereed England vs Switzerland U16 girls.

A part of NCG’s Top 100s panel, Steve has a particular love of links golf and is frantically trying to restore his single-figure handicap. He’d like to tell you he floats around 10. The reality is more like 13.

Steve plays at Sandburn Hall, in York, and is a country member at Close House in Newcastle. He has served on various club committees during his time in the game, and is the current Rules Secretary at Sandburn.

Having studied history at Newcastle University, he became a journalist having passed his NCTJ exams at Darlington College of Technology. He began his career working on weekly papers in Newcastle, before joining the York Press in 2001. After five years as a news reporter, he joined the sports desk – specialising in horse racing and snooker – and was Digital Sports Editor when he joined National Club Golfer in 2016.

What’s in Steve’s bag: TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver, 3-wood, and hybrids; Caley 01T irons 4-PW; TaylorMade Hi-Toe wedges, Odyssey 2Ball Microhinge putter.

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