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Many of 'Slammin' Sammy's' victories - achieved
from 1936 to 1965 - came before the tour existed in its current
form, back in an era when there were was a looser affiliation of
events, rather than today's highly structured circuit.
Indeed, in 1987, then-PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman set up a
panel of golf historians to sift through Snead's victories with
a fine tooth comb, deciding which to include in the official
tally and which to discard.
The final number displeased many on both sides. Snead supporters
were disappointed that several were excluded, and Snead himself
thought the official number should have been 89.
Others felt, however, that some of the inclusions were not
warranted.
But more than three decades later, Beman is comfortable with the
figure of 82, while acknowledging there were some tough judgment
calls that had to be made.
Although Snead and Woods are officially tied, the latter in
Beman's opinion is clearly the best tour player ever.
"Whose 82 victories demonstrate the higher level of
accomplishment?" Beman said in a telephone interview with
Reuters before answering his own question.
"No question in my mind Tiger's 82 is far more significant. I'm
not sure it's even real close because when Snead won his 82
events, he was playing against obviously accomplished players
but there weren't as many back then who on any given week could
have expected to win.
"To my way of thinking, winning 82 during Tiger's era would be
much more difficult than winning 82 during Sam's era."
Woods far outstrips Snead in major championships, with 15
titles, second all-time to Jack Nicklaus' 18, versus seven for
Snead.
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Beman noted the difficultly the panel he appointed faced in
deciding what Snead victories to count as official.
For example, five of Snead's wins came in team events.
The panel decided to include them because of their historical
significance, and also to credit Snead for his four wins at
Pebble Beach, even though one came in an 18-hole tournament in
1936.
Another was achieved in a 54-hole event at Pebble Beach that
ended in a four-way tie, with each player credited with victory
rather than return the next day for a playoff.
But the panel also concluded that Snead had won 62 tournaments
that did not merit inclusion in the official total.
Among tournaments it deemed not worthy of official victory
status were the 1940 Ontario Open in Canada, because it included
only one other touring professional, and an LPGA event played on
a par-three course.
"The difficultly in accomplishing what (the panel) ultimately
accomplished was that until then, there was no specific criteria
(for official victories)," Beman said.
"They had to develop criteria in retrospect, which is always
dicey and can always be clouded with personal wants and
objectives.
"But even though it is not an exact process and one that would
create some controversy then and into the future ... they tried
to treat the players in the past the fairest way they could
based on the way the tour was back then."
But if Snead's tally of 82 is rather arbitrary, Woods' is
anything but, because he knew ahead of time what events were
official and which were not.
Snead, who died in 2002 at age 89, posted his last official
victory at the Greater Greensboro Open in 1965 at the age of 52.
Woods, 44, said on his 82nd victory in October that he hoped to
play into his 50s, health permitting.
If he does not pass Snead this week at the Farmers Insurance
Open in San Diego, Woods will surely get many more chances to
officially take sole possession of a record that, had the Snead
panel been stricter, might have been broken years ago.
On the other hand, had the panel been less strict, Woods might
still be facing a daunting task.
Beman, for his part, is not interested in second-guessing the
panel's conclusions.
"They did the best job they could under the circumstances, came
up with (82) and that's what it is," he said.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by
Peter Cooney)
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