Posted by Jason Sobel
The golf staff here at ESPN.com is a little cranky these days. It could be all the rainy weather in the Bristol, Conn., area that has prevented any golf from being played in the past week. Or maybe it's just a case of the almost-midseason blues.
Whatever is it, we're in a bad mood. Which explains why Bob Harig and Ron Sirak were debating the surprising failures of Vijay Singh and Ernie Els so far this year in Alternate Shot and why I'm about to crush the spirits of 10 other underachievers.
Yup, time to pile it on, so let's examine some players who are living well below their means, Letterman-style, counting down to most disappointing:
• 10. Ben Crane. Back injuries have slowed Crane's progress at times in recent years, and this season is no different. Considered one of the rising young stars on tour, he has failed to claim even one top-10 yet this season, earning nearly half of his $392,387 for coming in fourth-from-last at the Mercedes Championships and winning one match at La Costa. Don't worry, though. At this time last season, his best finish was a T-17; he ended the season with six top-10s and a victory at the U.S. Bank Championship.
• 9. Bart Bryant. Another player hit by the injury bug, Bryant had offseason knee surgery -- "Probably just from years and years of, you know, swinging the golf club, walking up and down hills, being a pansy," he said before the season started -- but looked to be in fine form with a ninth-place finish at Kapalua. Since then, he's missed the cut in five of 10 events, with no results better than T-20. He's 97th on the money list.
• 8. Padraig Harrington. He's started less than half of the PGA Tour events so far this year, so we don't have a huge basis for this selection. But Harrington hasn't finished in the top-10 at any stroke-play event (he did reach the quarterfinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship) and ranks 58th on the money list. His four European Tour starts have been equally innocuous, with results ranging from 13th to 27th.
• 7. Justin Leonard. Has golf's new grip-it-and-rip-it strategy left Leonard in its wake? He's still hitting 'em straight, but at just over 277 yards per drive, the '97 British Open champ is struggling to hang with the big boys. Since earning top-10s in two of his first three starts, Leonard hasn't finished better than T-26 in his last nine, leaving him at 70th on the money list.
• 6. Sergio Garcia. OK, so he can't putt. (Actually, it's just that he putts too much.) Sergio's got more talent in his little pinky than most players have in their entire bodies, but it's not equating to success right now. With three top-10s in nine starts, Garcia is mired in 46th place on the money list, which might say more about the PGA Tour's penchant for over-rewarding top finishers than it does about his consistency.
• 5. Jason Gore. I could tell you I never saw this one coming, but that'd be a lie. Ever since he burst onto the scene (or at least into whatever scene we were watching) last summer, it was pretty clear that Gore would be an all-or-nothing type of guy. So far, there hasn't been much all, but there's been plenty of nothing. He's missed the cut in eight of 14 starts, with his only top-25 coming at the alternate-field Chrysler Classic of Tucson.
• 4. Sean O'Hair. Golf World's John Hawkins chronicled O'Hair's travails in a recent blog entry. There's not much to say for last season's Rookie of the Year, other than these two words: sophomore slump. O'Hair doesn't rank better than 74th in any major statistical category (and even that's only sand save percentage, not exactly one of the big ones). The good news is that he finally showed signs of breaking through with a T-19 at the Byron Nelson.
• 3. Todd Hamilton. In the 12 years since Hamilton claimed the Claret Jug ... whoa! Says in this here record book it was only two years ago that he won the British Open. Can that be right? We can't call Hamilton a one-hit wonder since he won the Honda Classic earlier that season, but things are getting ugly for one of the tour's nice guys. In 13 starts, he has a T-62, a T-66 and 11 missed cuts. Ouch.
• 2. Chris DiMarco. Injured his ribcage in a skiing accident prior to The Players Championship, but he wasn't exactly tearing it up before then. He's currently 107th on the money list, with his only six-figure check coming at the Match Play. We know how much DiMarco thrives in that format, but right now he's on the outside looking in for September's Ryder Cup, having fallen to 15th in the points standings. No doubt Tom Lehman will appoint him as a captain's pick if need be, but DiMarco needs to regain his form if he wants to be paired with buddy Phil Mickelson for four matches in Ireland.
• 1. John Daly. I've never written a book myself, but as one who hunkers over a keyboard for much of my life, I know how the blinking cursor can adversely affect one's golf game. Can't you picture Daly, a thesaurus in one hand, a Diet Coke in the other, fretting over each carefully-crafted word in his recent tome, "John Daly: My Life In and Out of the Rough"? OK, me neither, but it's an excuse, at least. Daly earned more than half his cash this season during his second-round exit at La Costa. He's on record as saying he likes to gamble -- a lot -- but with $163,936 in 11 starts, he hasn't given himself much to work with.
