"The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat"
About this Quote
The intent is practical, almost managerial. Snead is telling players and fans to stop mistaking talent for permanence. Skill gets you in the room; resilience keeps you there. “Come back” isn’t only about a tournament after a bad week. It’s about the micro-comebacks inside a single round: recovering after a double bogey, resetting your body language, refusing to let one hole colonize the next.
The subtext is more pointed: defeat is not an interruption of a champion’s story; it’s the material. Snead’s use of “all” is doing rhetorical heavy lifting, turning setbacks into a credential rather than a stain. That matters in a culture that treats losing as exposure, as proof you were never “that guy.” Snead, who endured slumps, competition from younger stars, and the slow grind of longevity, frames defeat as the common ancestry of champions. Greatness isn’t purity. It’s repair.
Quote Details
| Topic | Never Give Up |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Snead, Sam. (2026, January 16). The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-mark-of-a-great-player-is-in-his-ability-to-116379/
Chicago Style
Snead, Sam. "The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-mark-of-a-great-player-is-in-his-ability-to-116379/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The mark of a great player is in his ability to come back. The great champions have all come back from defeat." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-mark-of-a-great-player-is-in-his-ability-to-116379/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.





