(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.
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.
