Allenby and Appleby

Those of you who have read this blog since Aussie Golfer’s first article may have noticed Aussie Golfer’s frustration at the golf careers of Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby. Of late I’ve been reflecting on where this frustration comes from and whether they share the same view of their own careers.

Firstly, Stuart and Robert are two of the finest golfers Australia has ever produced. In fact I’d go further to say they would easily sit in the Top 20 of all time and arguably the Top 10. I remember watching in awe back in 1994 as Robert Allenby struck that amazing iron shot on the last hole at Royal Sydney to beat Brett Ogle by a shot. It appeared that an Australian capable of winning a major had arrived. Stuart Appleby’s arrival came a few years later in terms of professional success but again it seemed it was only a matter of a few years before he too was in the hunt for major titles.

Herein lies the frustration. Both players looked set to compete and win in the majors over 10 years ago now and emerged as the light of Greg Norman was fading. Since then the results of these two at the majors isn’t good. Robert Allenby has only had 5 top 10 finishes from 50 majors played missing the cut 18 times. Stuart Appleby has had 4 out of 48 Top 10’s also missing the cut 18 times.

There’s a few things to consider though. Firstly, they have both had bad capitulations when in contention but winning a major is hard. The importance placed on them is ridiculous compared to the amount of professional golf tournaments played throughout the year. Robert Allenby is having a hard time of late due to personal reasons and when you consider the first hand trauma both players have experienced as a result of car accidents in their lives, the results are superb.

The under achievement by these two players is frustrating but I can’t imagine I’m more frustrated by it than they are.

Photos courtesy of www.pgatour.com

2 thoughts on “Allenby and Appleby

  • I sympathise completely with this, I’ve been a huge fan of Darren Clarke for years, being from Northern Ireland too. So many times he’s challenged in Majors only to fade, or went into a major with very high hopes only to miss the cut. Hopefully now that he’ll be back in the majors next year he can perform a bit better.

    I hadn’t heard about these guys accidents before, I guess like Clarke, events in their lives have had big impacts on their careers. It’s a shame, cause I really rate the two of them, particularly Appleby, he’s a big time player and of the two would be my favourite to bag one of the biggies before he’s done.

    Reply
  • You know I’ve never thought about Darren Clarke in the same way as these two but your completely right.

    From afar, he’s this very likable golfer who’s got immense talent and won a few important events. There’s no denying he’s under achieved though.

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