Five of the best rookie performances on the PGA Tour
Monday 21 November 2016 19:57, UK
Cody Gribble and Mackenzie Hughes have both celebrated victories in their rookie campaigns on the PGA Tour this season, but what do they have to do to match the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy?
We have selected five stand-out maiden seasons since the PGA Tour first introduced a Rookie of the Year award in 1990, and our quintet have amassed an impressive 26 major victories between them - although Tiger Woods accounts for more than half of those!
The likes of John Daly and Ernie Els both chalked up major wins in their first seasons as full PGA Tour members, a feat that proved out of the reach of Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
So who put together the best set of results as a rookie?
Rory McIlroy, 2010
Although he did not consider himself a rookie, McIlroy played his first full season as a PGA Tour member and enjoyed a successful campaign highlighted by his astonishing win at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he narrowly made the cut and shot 66-62 over the weekend to blow away a world-class field.
He finished third at The Open despite following his opening 63 with a wind-battered 80 at St Andrews, and he was a whisker away from joining Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson in a play-off at the PGA Championship.
McIlroy enjoyed five top-10 finishes in his 16 starts with only four missed cuts, although he is the only player in this page to have missed out on the Rookie of the Year award, with Rickie Fowler getting the nod instead.
Ernie Els, 1994
Like Daly three years previously, Els made his major breakthough in his first season as a PGA Tour member when he edged out Loren Roberts and Colin Montgomerie in a play-off at the US Open.
The smooth-swinging South African made only 11 starts in the US as he balanced his commitments to the European Tour, and he missed only one cut while claiming a runner-up place at the Buick Classic - a week before his US Open win - and two further top-10 finishes.
Jordan Spieth, 2013
The next "next big thing" enjoyed a prolific rookie campaign which featured a handsome victory over the vastly-experienced Zach Johnson at the John Deere Classic, two weeks before his 20th birthday.
In 23 starts on the PGA Tour, Spieth failed to make the weekend only five times and posted nine top-10 finishes, claiming the third of his three runner-up spots at the season-ending Tour Championship.
His performance in Atlanta lifted him to seventh in the FedExCup standings and earned him a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup, where he won two points out of four to help Fred Couples' side to victory.
Tiger Woods, 1996
"Hello world" was how Woods announced himself to professional golf, although he hardly set the world alight in his debut among the paid ranks, finishing in a lowly tie for 60th at the Greater Milwaukee Open.
Just four tournaments later, Woods collected the first of his 79 PGA Tour titles to the delight of the fans at the Las Vegas Invitational, and win No 2 arrived shortly afterwards in the Disney Classic.
Five top 10s in eight starts, with no missed cuts, and Woods was all set to provide the most serious threat to the record 18 major titles of Jack Nicklaus.
John Daly, 1991
More known for his prodigious hitting than for winning tournaments until he burst onto the golfing world with his sensational victory at the PGA Championship, when he scraped into the field as ninth reserve and blitzed the competition by three shots in Indiana.
The "Wild Thing" was hardly a model of consistency over his 33 starts that year, missing the cut in 12 tournaments, but he did notch four top-10 finishes including a third place at the season-ending Tour Championship.
Unfortunately for Daly, his best performances came too late to earn a call-up to the US Ryder Cup team, and he was also overlooked for the 1995 contest despite winning The Open earlier that year.
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