Brian's Song

As tales of tough luck go, Tour journeyman Brian Davis has a doozy. But if the indefatigable Brit is still winless, he’s not without his victories.

- Alan Shipnuck

BRIAN DAVIS might be the unluckiest player in the history of the PGA Tour. He has never had an ace in competition, a streak of futility that is now at 4,529 par 3s and counting. As of this writing he has made 359 starts on Tour without a victory, the longest drought among all active players. (Omar Uresti, 50, is winless in 368 starts but is now focused on the Champions tour). One of Davis’s best chances to win came at Hilton Head in 2010, in a playoff against Jim Furyk, but, while attempting a recovery shot from the edge of Calibogue Sound, he brushed a tiny loose impediment in the hazard during his backswing, a two-stroke penalty that doomed Davis to defeat. (He alerted officials to what might have happened but, because the reeds near his ball were moving with the wind, it took slow-mo replays in high definition to confirm the infraction.) When Davis blew out his neck in late 2016, it seemed somehow fitting, given the heavy burden he has long shouldered.

And yet, over sandwiches at a lunch spot in his adopted home of Orlando, this dogged victim of inexorable fate radiated contentment. “In many ways, I’m happier than I’ve ever been,” says the 44-year-old Brit.