General / Joe Dyer / 10 October 2011 /

It was so nearly a momentous week in golf as three men without a big professional win to their names all came close to a tournament victory with two out of three making it and poor old Briny Baird left on the sidelines.

Congratulations then young Rickie Yutaka Fowler - you can now look your fellow big-name competitors in the eye after finally joining the winners' club of professional golfers.

Much was made of Fowler's wait for that (as Tiger calls them) 'W'. The extravagantly-dressed Las Vegan with the outrageous talent got over the line at the Korean Open on Sunday to break his duck, with one R McIlroy six shots back in second.

It's taken two years as a pro and any number of close finishes for Fowler to get the win his talent deserved. More will surely follow, and how Fowler would like that to be this week on the PGA Tour at the McGladrey Classic.

But Fowler's absence from the winners' circle looks like a short wait for a bus when compared with Lee Slattery, who eventually nailed it on the European Tour after 11 years in the game.

And while talking wins spare a thought for Briny Baird, one of the PGA Tour's terminal losers, who went six playoff holes at the Frys.com Open before losing out to Bryce Molder. Baird will probably never do so despite turning professional in 1995.

Slattery showed what the prospect of getting that first win can do a pro by putting together five minutes of heart-stoppingly dreadful golf on the final hole.

Leading by three shots at the Madrid Masters and with just the par-5 18th to negotiate, Slattery wisely took the advice of his caddie and played conservatively off the tee. With fairway found, he attempted a lay-up second only to stick it in a bunker. From the sand he missed grass and went in the water, resulting in a penalty shot and leaving a fifth shot to find the green. On Betfair we were halfway towards seeing another [1.01] loser.

Slattery, of course, got home in the end, hitting a double bogey seven while runner-up Lorenzo Gagli could not find the birdie needed to force a playoff.

Congratulations, Lee, but Betfair's in-play golf punters will not forget that finish in a hurry.

In the States, Baird franked his reputation as one to avoid when finishing runner-up for the fifth time in his career to make it 348 starts without a W to his name, though a birdie and eagle on two of the closing holes showed plenty of character to make the shootout. Molder broke his own 131 tournament losing streak to take the win.

On the flipside, Baird has won $12,460,542 in his golfing career so, technically, you can't really call him a loser can you?

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