From Phil Mickelson to Shane Lowry, here is a look at the decade’s 10 most dominant performances in major championships.
The second decade of the 21st Century saw great major tournament performances by great players. But for much of the decade, the spotlight seemed to return year after year to the British Open.
Five of the 10 most dominant major tournament performances of the decade, including the top three, took place in front of the Royal and Ancient. Fittingly that string began at the decade’s outset, with Louis Oosthuizen’s surprising win at St. Andrews. It continued right on through Shane Lowry’s emotional triumph at the 2019 event at Royal Portrush.
Our ranking of the decade’s 10 greatest major tournaments is based on the standard deviation of the winner’s performance compared with the field average for each tournament. Standard deviation is an excellent measure of exceptionality; thus, by definition, the winners with the best standard deviation performance delivered the most exceptional showings.
There were nine major tournament performances during the decade in excess of three standard deviations better than the tournament’s field average. As exceptional as that level of performance is, only eight of those nine resulted in victories. That’s right; one player actually accomplished the rare feat of separating himself by three standard deviations from the field average in a non-winning cause. Details to follow.
The roster of authors of these top 10 performances is to a large extent also a roster of the decade’s stars. Performances by Rory Mcilroy, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth are all on it.
From the decade’s 40 major events, here are the 10 most exceptional performances as measured by the standard deviation. Each heading shows the rank, player, season, tournament and standard deviation. Keep in mind that because golf is a game where low score wins, negative standard deviations are better.