A riveting finish to the Scottish Open at the weekend – hopefully a mere entrée to a sumptuous St. Andrews main this week – proved once again just how difficult it is to win in golf.

With barely an hour to go Spieth was in it, Schauffele was struggling and the mostly unknown young Korean Joohyung Kim was looking as likely as anyone to take the title.

Schauffele did, of course, eventually prevail but it was a little further down the leaderboard I found my mind wandering as the end approached.

The 36-hole leader, Cameron Tringale, eventually finished T6 after opening the tournament with a stunning round of 9-under-par 61, three shots better than anybody else on the day. Clearly, he’s no slouch. And yet, he’s never won a tournament.

"Careers are measured in victories and that’s understandable but perhaps it undersells in some way the achievement of those who ‘make up the numbers’." - Rod Morri.

Tringale has been a professional for 13 years and is often held up as the poster child for amassing a lot of money without ever hoisting a trophy.

In his 12 years as a PGA Tour member, he has played 350 events and made the cut 226 times. He has finished in the top-10 on 35 occasions and four times he has been T2.

Clearly, he has enough physical ability to win and yet, US$17 million into his career, he hasn’t managed it.

It’s easy to dismiss a player like Tringale as ‘not good enough’ but that does his accomplishments somewhat of a disservice.

Sure, in comparison to the likes of Tiger and Jack and Jordan Spieth his record comes up short.

But that is more a reflection of just how extraordinary those others are than some failing on the part of Tringale.

Just keeping a card on the PGA Tour for the best part of 12 years is an accomplishment, one most golf fans – unsurprisingly – don’t really appreciate.

In fact, there is little understanding in the general golf population of just how good those who play for a living are.

If Tringale turned up at almost any club in Australia and played a few holes with the members, they would be universally gobsmacked at his talent.

That most would also have no clue who he is, let alone be able to pick him out of a line-up of other golfers, speaks volumes about how challenging the professional game is.

No other sport puts as many obstacles in the way of the winner as golf.

From the size of the field (the average is between 144 and 156 players) to ever changing conditions and the moving target that is the golf course, it’s actually remarkable anybody ever wins more than a handful of times.

Careers are measured in victories and that’s understandable but perhaps it undersells in some way the achievement of those who ‘make up the numbers’.

Because the truth is, even though grading on a curve, it’s a whole lot harder than they make it look.