Borna Ćorić and Caroline Garcia both make history with title wins at the Cincinnati Masters.
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Nancy Lopez’s victory at the Cincinnati Masters is the first for the PGA Tour pro since 2010.
The list of Americans who have won the PGA’s major championship at least once is long, and it has never been more than two, which is why the first win for a non-American was not a surprise. It arrived this week, when the second-ranked golfer not named Tiger Woods broke the tie with a playoff win at the Cincinnati Masters.
Nancy Lopez’s victory at the Cincinnati Masters is the first for the PGA Tour pro since 2010.
It was expected that she would win, regardless, after her first victory on the Champions Tour, but the first major title for a non-American since 2010, when Stacy Lewis won the U.S. Women’s Open, is the first time this century a non-American would take home a PGA Tour title.
The best explanation anyone has offered for this unexpected turnaround is simple: the players in the Top 50 in the world have dominated this sport.
The last time an American won the U.S. Open was in 1961, when Byron Nelson won what is now known as the U.S. Open. The U.S. Open would not be held again until 1974, after John Daly won the PGA Tour’s first major in 1975. Those three tournaments were the only times an American won a U.S. Open or U.S. hardmen won a U.S. Open.
The last time an Italian won was in 1978, when Ben Crenshaw won the U.S. Open.
The last time someone named John Daly was in the field at a major was at the 1972 U.S. Open. John Daly was the final player to be eliminated at the 72nd U.S. Open at Brookline Country Club when he was disqualified for being over par. His card had been disqualified because it did not show him with the correct number of strokes.
A couple weeks ago, we wrote about the best players in the world, who were not playing in this week’s majors,