Here’s Why Harman’s Win Shouldn’t Be That Surprising
Here’s Why Harman’s Win Shouldn’t Be That Surprising…
A lot of fans seemed surprised that Brian Harman won the Open Championship last week. We’re learning about some numbers that indicate that maybe it shouldn’t have come as a big surprise.
A new study from the Golf Workout Program is looking at the states that have, over the years, produced the most professional golfers.
When you look at the players on the PGA Tour, nearly 50% are from the United States. That makes America the single largest producer of PGA Tour players. And when you break it down even more, many of them are from a limited number of locations.
Let’s look. It would probably come as no surprise to a PGA Tour that California leads all of the states over the last ten years, producing 85 PGA Tour players. After that, things head South, in a good way. Texas is second on the list, producing 58 PGA Tour players. Florida is third, with 54 players.
Here’s where you might be surprised, fourth on the list is Georgia. The analysis found that 28 Georgia born players have made at least one cut in a PGA Tour event over the last ten years.
Here’s even more of a breakdown…
Along with the 28 players just making a cut, 17 players have won on the PGA Tour in the last decade, with Chris Kirk, Harris English and Russell Henley each winning four times. For the record, the Open was Brian Harman’s third win. There is one Georgia golfer in the top 50 career PGA Tour wins, and that is the late Doug Sanders.
HOYLAKE, ENGLAND – JULY 20: Russell Henley of United States tees off on the 8th hole on Day One of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 20, 2023 in Hoylake, England. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
So far, we’ve been talking about native Georgians. The survey did not look into the number of players that have moved to Georgia over the last decade and have gone on to win on Tour.
And finally, here’s one more thing to ponder. With Brian Harman’s Open championship last week, he’s one of 10 players from the University of Georgia to win on tour.
HOYLAKE, ENGLAND – JULY 21: Chris Kirk of the United States tees off on the 1st hole on Day Two of The 151st Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club on July 21, 2023 in Hoylake, England. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
And that’s why Harman’s win shouldn’t be that surprising.
You know what, these days there are even some people that refer to the PGA Tour as the “UGA Tour”.
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