{"id":433150,"date":"2025-02-04T18:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T23:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/?p=433150"},"modified":"2025-04-23T16:38:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T16:38:55","slug":"forgotten-golfers-of-the-2010s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/forgotten-golfers-of-the-2010s\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Amazing But Forgotten Golfers of the 2010s: Where did they go?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2010s gave us golf\u2019s biggest stars\u2014Rory McIlroy<\/a>, Brooks Koepka<\/a>, and Jordan Spieth dominated. But not everyone stayed in the spotlight. Some players had their moment, looked like future stars, and then disappeared. Whether due to injuries, lost confidence, or just golf being cruel, these names faded fast.<\/p>\n

5 Amazing and Forgotten Golfers From the 2010s<\/h2>\n

Kevin Chappell \u2013 The comeback that never quite came back<\/h3>\n

For a while, Chappell looked like a regular contender. He finished third at the 2011 U.S. Open, lost in a playoff at The Players, and finally won the 2017 Valero Texas Open. Then his back gave out. Surgery in 2018 sidelined him for nearly a year. When he returned, he shot a 59\u2014great sign, right? Nope. His game never fully recovered, and he\u2019s been mostly grinding on the fringes of the tour ever since.<\/p>\n

Camilo Villegas \u2013 The Spiderman lost his swing<\/h3>\n

Few players looked cooler than Camilo Villegas. His athletic, crouched-down putting stance made him a fan favorite, and he backed it up with three PGA Tour wins before 2010. Then his game slowly faded. After winning the 2014 Wyndham Championship, he vanished from leaderboards. Injuries, swing changes, and personal tragedy hit hard. He\u2019s popped up for a few good finishes, but the days of \u201cSpiderman\u201d contending in big events are long gone.<\/p>\n

Hunter Mahan \u2013 From top 5 to forgotten<\/h3>\n

Mahan was rock solid in the early 2010s. Six PGA Tour wins, multiple Ryder Cup appearances, and a swing that looked built for longevity. Then he fell off a cliff. Swing changes, putting struggles, and lost confidence sent him tumbling down the rankings. By 2017, he was playing Monday qualifiers. A guy who once battled Rory McIlroy in the Ryder Cup now struggles to make cuts. Golf can be cruel. And now he makes our list of amazing but forgotten golfers of the 2010s.<\/p>\n

Ben An \u2013 So much talent, so little putting<\/h3>\n

Ben An looked like a rising star after winning the 2015 BMW PGA Championship. He crushed the ball, contended in big events, and seemed poised for more. But there was one problem\u2014his putter. An\u2019s ball-striking kept him competitive, but his short game never caught up. Over time, his missed putts piled up, and so did his missed cuts. He\u2019s still lurking around professional golf, but that next big win hasn\u2019t come.<\/p>\n

Smylie Kaufman \u2013 From Masters final group to the TV booth<\/h3>\n

In 2016, Kaufman played in the final group at the Masters. One bad round later, his career started unraveling. His Sunday 81 at Augusta was just the beginning of a brutal slump. Injuries, swing issues, and shattered confidence followed. By 2019, he was completely off the PGA Tour<\/a>. But Smylie still found a way to stay in golf\u2014just not as a player. Now, he\u2019s a TV broadcaster, proving he can still deliver a great performance. Just not on Sundays at Augusta.<\/p>\n

Golf builds stars fast, but it forgets them even faster. These players had the talent, the wins, and the hype\u2014until they didn\u2019t. Some are still fighting to regain form, others have moved on. Either way, their stories are reminders that in golf, nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2010s gave us golf\u2019s biggest stars\u2014Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, and Jordan Spieth dominated. But not everyone stayed in the spotlight. Some players had their moment, looked like future stars, and then disappeared. Whether due to injuries, lost confidence, or just golf being cruel, these names faded fast. 5 Amazing and Forgotten Golfers From the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4860,"featured_media":433178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-433150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-golf","category-pga"],"modified_by":"yobodev","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4860"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}