No history of genetics in golf
Only two father-son pairings have won majors on PGA Tour, the last time in 1887
During the weekend prior to Christmas, the PNC Championship was contested in Orlando. The PNC is a parent-child scramble tournament featuring golf professionals and their fathers or sons or daughters. Younger pros like 20-something Justin Thomas played alongside his dad, a PGA teaching professional. Old-timers such as Lee Trevino and Tom Kite paired up with their adult sons. Middle-aged golfers such as Tiger Woods and John Daly played with their 11-year-old and 16-year-old sons, respectively. It was a fun weekend of golf. While Justin and Mike Thomas won the tournament, the talk was about 11-year-old Charlie Woods and his ultra-famous dad.
Charlie played very well and it was fun to watch his nicely developed swing and his entertaining golf mannerisms. Yet to my horror, I read a few days after the PNC that the gaming houses had also taken an interest in the 11-year-old boy. I learned that one could place a bet in Las Vegas on Charlie. One could get 2-1 odds that Charlie Woods would turn pro by the age of 24. One could also place a bet that Charlie would win his first major title by age 25. The odds were listed at 825-1. While I certainly hope that Charlie gets to have a much more normal childhood than his famous dad was ever able to experience, I have some advice for those gamblers who might try to cash in on the kid some 14 years from now. My advice is don’t be foolish and throw away your money on that major title thing. A father and a son winning one of golf’s major championships has happened just twice. And when it happened on the most recent occasion, the year was 1887 and our President was Grover Cleveland.
Old Tom Morris won the British Open four times. He won in 1861, 1862, 1864 and 1867. His son, Young Tom Morris, won the first of his four Open titles in 1868. Willie Park also won four British Open titles. A contemporary of the Morris duo, he won the Open in 1860, 1863, 1866 and 1875. Willie Park Jr. won a pair of Open Championships in 1887 and 1889. That’s all folks.
Eight other father-son combinations have won tournaments on the PGA Tour. While some of the dads have a grand slam title on their golfing resumes, no son has won a major alongside his father. Unlike a lot of the major team sports, there is no history of genetics in golf.
Jackie Burke Sr. won six times on tour during the post-World War I era and finished runner-up in the 1920 United States Open. His son, Jackie Burke Jr., would have a rock-solid career in the post-World War II days during the height of the Ben Hogan-Sam Snead-Byron Nelson era. Burke Jr. had 19 career wins. In 1956 he had a serious major season as he won both the Masters and the PGA Championship. Nowadays, Burke Jr. is a lively 97-year-old who recently hosted the Women’s U.S. Open at the Champions Golf Club in Houston. He is our oldest living major champion.
Julius Boros had a full career that spanned the days of Hogan-Snead-Nelson and then morphed into the Palmer-Player-Nicklaus era. He won the U.S. Open in 1952 and 1963, and he added the PGA Championship in 1968. His son is Guy Boros. Guy was a one-hit wonder on tour with a victory in the 1996 Greater Vancouver Open. Sacramento’s Al Geiberger is best known as Mr. 59. He was the first golfer to break the 60 threshold with his firstround 59 at the Danny Thomas Memphis Open in 1977. It was one of his 11 tour victories. His real golfing claim to fame was his win in the 1966 PGA Championship. His son, Brent, won twice at Hartford and Greensboro, but never had the career that his famous dad did.
Craig Stadler was known as The Walrus by fans, but is best known for his triumph at the
1982 Masters. He had 31 worldwide wins during a solid career. His son, Kevin Stadler, won the 2014 Phoenix Open. He was better known in Europe following his win at the 2006 Johnny Walker Classic. He was exempt in Europe long before he got his PGA Tour card. Another golfer from that era was Bob Tway. Tway holed out a bunker shot on the final hole of the 1986 PGA to steal the title from Greg Norman by one stroke. Tway would win 11 times on tour and have a top 10-finish in all four of golf’s majors. Son Kevin Tway is currently an exempt member of the PGA Tour because of his 2018 win at the Safeway Open at Napa’s Silverado Resort.
Perhaps the most successful father-son duo on the PGA Tour is Jay Haas and Bill Haas. Jay has won 33 times with nine PGA Tour victories and two Senior Tour majors. Bill has seven tour win, including a very dynamic overtime win in the 2011 Tour Championship from the water. Neither Haas has won a major championship although their uncle, Bob Goalby, did win the 1968 Masters.
If we were to look across the pond, the top father-son duo would be Percy Alliss and Peter Alliss of England. Percy won 20 times in Europe and played in four Ryder Cups. Peter Alliss, who was best known as a golf commentator for the BBC and ABC, had 33 victories and played on eight Ryder Cup teams for Great Britain and Ireland. Alas neither has a major title to his name. Percy finished two strokes behind Tommy Armour in the 1931 British Open while Peter had four topeight finishes in the Open Championship. They didn’t play in America.
Other father-son winning combinations include Clayton Heafner and Vance Heafner as well as Joe Kirkwood Sr. and Joe Kirkwood Jr. The sons of Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player played professional golf, but Gary Nicklaus and Wayne Player never found the winner’s circle. The same is true for Johnny Miller, who had two sons play golf professionally. The most successful of the Miller boys was Andy, who won the State Farm Open on the Buy. com Tour. Andy Miller beat Dave Stockton Jr. in a sudden-death playoff. While Stockton Jr. would win twice on the Nike Tour, he couldn’t match his father’s career that included two PGA Championships, two senior majors at the Senior Players Championship, 25 worldwide wins, and a winning Ryder Cup captaincy at Kiawah Island. And for those of you who think I might have forgotten the Irish duo of Christy O’Connor Sr. and World Golf Hall of Famer Christy O’Connor Jr., I haven’t. They’re an uncle-nephew duo, not a father-son twosome.
Unlike Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and
Barry Bonds, there’s no real history of genetic brilliance in the world of professional golf. For those of you who are thinking of ways to spend your $82,500 in winnings in 14 years, save your Ben Franklin. It’s been 133 years since Willie Park Jr. won the Open at Prestwick. It could be even longer before another son wins a major.