Woods and Snead tied with 82 PGA
Tour wins, but no comparison, says former commissioner
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[January 21, 2020]
By Andrew Both
(Reuters) - As Tiger Woods makes his
first attempt this week at surpassing Sam Snead for the most
all-time PGA Tour victories, the man largely responsible for pegging
Snead's number at 82 has weighed in with his thoughts on how the two
greats compare.
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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Jan/21/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_010920.png)
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.
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![](../images/012120pics/sports59.jpg)
Tiger Woods of the U.S. celebrates on the 18th hole to win the 2019
Masters at Augusta National Golf Club
in Augusta, Georgia, U.S. April 14, 2019. REUTERS/Lucy
Nicholson/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2016/Mar/14/images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
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.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Jan/21/images/ads/current/lincolnheating_lda_LUAL_2018.png)
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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