North Carolina State winning the 1983 NCAA tournament. Villanova winning it two years later. The Tampa Bay Rays making it to the World Series last fall.
This is what compares to Lucas Glover winning the U.S. Open.
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Anyone pick him to win? Anyone? We’re guessing the Glover family laid a few bills on someone else as well.
But he’s not the most obscure golfer to capture the U.S. Open. And considering his age, 29 , he has a shot to do more than fade back into obscurity. Though one tourney win prior to the U.S. Open and a less-than-stellar mark in majors — well, before this one — suggests that he’s not exactly a rising stud.
Some allowed this to launch them higher; others, well, did not. Lee Trevino captured this event in 1968. But he finished his career with six majors and 29 PGA victories. Will Glover pull a Trevino? Maybe an Andy North — wining once more, albeit another Open and parlaying that into a nice TV gig?
Or will he join this list:
Orville Moody » He was a nobody before and after his 1969 U.S. Open championship. Moody won in 1969, but he didn’t register another win on the PGA Tour. He did win 11 events on the Senior Tour and is one of four men to win the U.S. Open and the U.S. Senior Open.
Michael Campbell » He won by two shots over Tiger Woods in 2005. But he missed the cut the previous four years and again in three of the last four. Talk about a big fade.
Three in the 1950s » Ed Furgol won in 1954 — after missing the cut at the Open five straight years. In the next 12 years, he missed eight cuts at the event. He won one time before this and twice afterward.
A year later, Jack Fleck decided to take a full-time shot at the PGA Tour. Six months afterward he won the Open (in only his second time in the event). He only won two other times on the PGA Tour and ended his career with only two other top-10 finishes.
Finally, in 1957, Dick Mayer won, his fifth win on tour in five years. He won once more on tour.
