Who has had the better and most successful career out of Sandy Lyle and Colin Montgomerie !?

Sandy Lyle
27 Professional Wins
2 Majors
3 Order Of Merits
5 Ryder Cup Appearances

Colin Montgomerie
40 Professional Wins
0 Majors
8 Order Of Merits
8 Ryder Cup Appearances

I guess alot of people might say Lyle due to the major victories but then Montgomerie did rule Europe for seven years in a row !?

Which career would you rather have !? Is it all about majors !?

Tourney wins are all well in good... but I'm willing to bet Monty would give up half his wins for those 2 majors. That and he's a prick.. so I gotta go with Sandy.

and your reson for calling Monty a PR**K is what??? didn't sign your hat, souvenior, didn't chuck you a ball what???

or are you just the typical person who thinks everyone owes you a whoop whoop or a handshake???

get over yourself mate.


Now back to the post.

i would only say Sandy due to the major wins, but winning eight order of merits and 8 ryder appearances only puts monty in a very close 2nd place.........but saying that he's one of my euro hero's along with Westwood, Clarke and Jiminez.........

Agreed, 1 major is like 5-10 regular tournaments.

no offense to anyone who is european tour fan but the european tour wasnt always as strong as it is today and for sandy lyle to have 6 pga tour wins 2 of which majors and colin to never win on the pga tour gives my nod to sandy lyle.

Sandy Lyle hands down. Not to say Monty isn't a hell of a player, but if you asked Monty if he deemed his career a success, he would probably tell you "no", due to the fact that he never won that elusive major, and that he was never able to win on the PGA tour(which is less important to him than the major).

I would much rather have Sandy Lyle's career.

Good post.

Sandy by a neck for me.
Plus i have no man love for Monty and IMO he is a Pr*@K and i don't feel the need to explain, as this is MY opinion.

Another vote for Lyle. Don't forget he won the Open ('85)before Faldo did, making him the first Brit winner for an age back then. His '88 Masters win is the stuff of legends too. Monty's order of merit tally is impressive, but when stacked up against the rest of the world's top players, it counts for very little indeed. I'm not a great Monty fan, but I don't think the current bickering between himself and Sandy does the game of golf any credit. A lot of it could be linked to the Ryder Cup captaincy selection, which inciddently I think was a poor choice. I don't think Monty is very receptive to the media and come the time of the next Ryder Cup, the press will have him for breakfast.

He's a jerk. Sorry but he is. Nothing to do with any personal experience. He's always whining and bitching about something and just generally has a crappy attitude. I'm entitled to my opinion so get over YOURself

Its worth noting that Montgomerie has come 2nd place in a major 5 times! Very close to being a great instead of just good.

Sandy Lyle hands down over Mrs. Doubtfire.

I've only seen Monty in person once. I watched him flick a tee at a guy in the crowd who gave him a small heckle (I don't remember what was said, but thought Monty overreacted at the time) as he came off the 8th tee at Southern Hills in 2000. Cool tee though.

Monty has been a dick on numerous occasions, and no doubt many more to come.

However, I was not impressed a year or two ago at the PGA at Wentworth. The games were backed up on the 4th tee (blind drive on a par-5), and all the players going through went onto the tee where there were a few fans (including yours truly) standing right behind the advertising board. Almost all of them exchanged a few words, and a couple had pretty good chats (Cheers to Thomas Levet and Graeme McDowell), but Lyle instead walked about 30 yards up the hole and stood there until it was time to play and then walked on the tee, hit his shot and walked off without responding to any of the quite courteous comments made. He was quite notable among 7 or 8 groups I saw for that. Even Goosen, a noted introvert, spoke to us.

Lyle by miles.

When Monty was winning his order of merits who of his main competition early / middle / late in his run gave a monkeys or played in enough events to make a sustained attempt?

Faldo - off round the world trying to win majors
Ollie - off round the world trying to win majors
Langer - Off round the world trying to win majors
Garcia - off round the world trying (and failing) to win majors
Woosie - off round the world trying to win majors
Els - off round the world trying to win majors


As good as Monty was he isnt in Lyles league, and neither of them are particularly likeable imo.

There was a spat years ago when Faldo pointed out that Monty was happy picking up £100k for beating lower status fields on courses that didnt develop his game to the extent that he would win majors. As usual the British press were all over Falso for it. Surprise surprise - he was dead right.

OK...

Who has had a better career.... Lyle or Couples???

I think Couples has had more wives...

LOL... I wanted to see if anyone will backtrack on the majors won issue...

I voted for Monty.. Scroll down and look at the guys that finished 2nd in the tournaments he won.. You can't tell me that he didn't play against great competition... I understand that majors are important but he finished 2nd 5 times to players that are future, if not already hall of famers....

Colins Montgomerie Career Link

Now, I don't like him at all... But I think he had a better career...

Lyle.

I think of Montgomerie's career as consistently above average for a tour pro, but when compared to his contemporaries he falls down as he's not:

been #1 in the world (vs. 167 weeks for Lyle)
won a major (vs. Lyle's 2)
won on the PGA tour (vs. Lyle's 6 titles)

Also, whilst he got himself into good positions in some majors he choked when it came down to the stretch.

Yeah, it is. It's also about The Player's Championship and handful of other tournaments Lyle won in America in addition to his significant accomplishments in Europe. I can't think of another player who has won more tournaments around the world without a major than Montgomerie.

Lyle certainly seemed to get more out of his game than Couples got out of his.

1. I'd take Lyle's career over Monty's...even if Lyle only won 1 major, that's what matters most.

2. What is it with these 2 scotsmen? That's a lot of bitching and scratching for grown men !!! I have no respect for either after this spate. They sound like a couple of old farts playing politics in the golf club's boardroom.

+1 guess it (the golf; we know he's had a turbulent personal life) came too easy for Couples and it made him a little "soft"...

Can the same be said of some of the young guns today? It's ok to finish second and walk off with half a million bucks. Why bother trying to reach the pinnacle? It's probably why (more often) we see the late-30's and over 40's (VJ, Kenny, Stricker, etc) putting the young guns to shame. Sigh...

Who's had more wives: Hal Sutton or John Daly?

Hmm, but how many were majors?

I think you have to look at who was playing at the same time.
Lyle had the likes of Faldo,Woosey,Langer and many more to compete with in the 80's
Monty did not really have that many in the early 90's on the European tour the 90's was all USA,the 80's were all European players that were doing well in the major's.

I would say Lyle. Majors carry more weight.

I think Monty's Order of Merit titles, although great, aren't truely that impressive. He peeked at the right time...Woosnam, Seve, Langer, Torrence, were all in the twilight of there best playing days and Westwood was just a youngster. That left guys like Clarke, Jimenez, and Bjorn as the competition. Those guys are good, kind of like the PGA tour equivalent of say...Justin Leonard and David Toms. Good, but not superstars.

a major is a major. lyle has two.

No doubt Sandy Lyle, when Monty was "dominating" the Euro tour it was at it's weakest period in the last two decades. Seve, Faldo, Sandy, Woosie, Langer, James, Torrance were all either at the end of thier prime, past thier prime or playing somewhere else in the world, his comteporaries Ollie, Westwood, Clarke and Sergio were not in the same league or playing elsewhere. While Montys legacy will be the order of merits and being one of the best Ryder Cup players ever, his career has to be somewhat of a disappointment. Lyle has the two majors, in arguably the two most important majors world wide, although his did not win as many tour events or perform as well in the Ryder Cup I think his legacy is secured. Sandy also has credit for one of the greatest quotes ever, when asked during the mid 90's what he thought of Tiger Woods, he said "I don't know,......I have never played there"