These 14 pros nearly picked up their first PGA Tour win this season

With the calendar flipping to June, the PGA Tour counts eight first-time winners this season, including the duo of Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, who teamed up for their first wins at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

It was almost nine on Sunday as Denny McCarthy had a putt to win the Memorial only to be denied his maiden victory by Viktor Hovland.

McCarthy isn’t alone. So far this season, 14 different players have finished runner-up or tied for second 15 times while bidding for their first Tour title. If the Netflix documentary “Full Swing” taught us anything it is that winning is hard. (Don’t drink every time a player says just that or you may not make it through a single episode.)

“The only one who will remember you if you come in second place is your wife and your dog,” World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player once said, “and that is only if you have a good wife and a good dog.”

NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt didn’t mince words either, saying, “Second place is just the first-place loser. There is no room for second place.”

Nevertheless, let’s take a closer look at this year’s runner-ups, who were so close to tasting victory and climbing another rung on the professional golf ladder with their first Tour wins.

Denny McCarthy tees off from 10 during the final round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club. (Photo: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch)

The 30-year-old former Virginia Cavalier had a 23-foot putt for par to win the Memorial but after making virtually every putt he looked out, he missed and his first bogey of the day dropped him into a playoff with Viktor Hovland. McCarthy bogeyed 18 again and had to settle for his best finish on Tour in 157 career starts.

“I’m heartbroken right now,” McCarthy said after losing in a one-hole playoff. “I thought this was going to be the week.”

Austin Eckroat waits to putt on the 17th hole during the third round of the AT&T Byron Nelson golf tournament. (Photo: Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports)

Eckroat is yet another Oklahoma State grad making good on the pro scene. The 24-year-old, who graduated from the Korn Ferry Tour, got off to a sluggish start this season, which included six consecutive missed cuts on the West Coast and Florida Swings. But he’s started to heat up like the weather. He finished fifth at the Corales Puntacana Championship in late March and followed up his T-2 in Dallas, where he shot 22 under, with a T-16…