Australians at the Majors: The Best Golfers

Who have been the best Australian golfers at the majors since 2000?

(as of January, 2009)

Geoff Ogilvy managed to finish superbly with soldiers falling around him to win the 2006 US Open but has he been around long enough to be our best performing golfer in the past 9 years?

We all know you can make stats say whatever you want. So lets look at a number of different areas.

After assigning points based on a golfers final position in a major (as outlined in the first “Australians at the Majors” article) Stuart Appleby comes out on top. He has played in every major golf tournament since 2000 and has always done quite well but never quite enough to grab onto any silverware….or clothing. Here’s the Top 5 Australian golfers according to points earned since 2000.

Points Majors
Appleby 66 36
Ogilvy 62 19
Scott 47 30
Allenby 45 34
Hensby 28 9

Ok, so Appleby has the most points but he’s played the most tournaments! A quick look and it’s obvious how well Geoff Ogilvy has done. Even Mark Hensby’s record is good after his stellar 2005 where he finished Top 5 at the US Masters and the US Open.

What about cuts made in a major? It might give us a better look at who does well. Here’s the Top 5 according to % of cuts made since 2000.

Majors % cuts made
Ogilvy 19 78.9
Hensby 9 77.8
Scott 30 70.0
Appleby 36 69.4
Allenby 34 64.7
A potentially more interesting table to look at. It now highlights just how good Geoff Ogilvy has been in the 19 majors he’s played in and again gives an indication of how good Mark Hensby’s few performances have been.
One more little stat Aussie Golfer would like to share with you. These 5 golfers are also better than 68% at finishing in the Top 30 after making the cut.

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