Another way to rank the best golfers

[cdnglf]

Here's how I would rank them subject to change of course:

 

1. Tiger Woods

2. Jack Nicklaus

3. Sam Snead

4. Ben Hogan

5. Arnold Palmer

6. Tom Watson

7. Gary Player

8. Byron Nelson

9. Phil Mickelson

10. Lee Trevino

11. Billy Casper

12. Seve Ballesteros

 

Followed by a large group including:

 

13. Nick Faldo

14. Ernie Els

15. Vijay Singh

16. Cary Middlecoff

17. Jimmy Demaret

18. Raymond Floyd

19. Greg Norman

20. Johnny Miller

21. Nick Price

22. Jim Barnes

23. Tommy Armour

24. Hale Irwin

25. Julius Boros

 

This excludes 6 obvious guys who are just too difficult to place. They are:

 

1. Bobby Jones

2. Walter Hagen

3. Gene Sarazen

4. Harry Vardon

5. Bobby Locke

6. Peter Thomson

 

I am in almost complete agreement with this. There are a few cases where I'd argue to move a guy up or down, but not more than a couple places.

Agree on Tiger at #1. Agree on Snead over Hogan. Agree on the relatively high rankings of Palmer and Mickelson. My appreciation for Arnold's career has grown over time. Essentially the same number of wins as Hogan, but without the WW2 win inflation.

[Ashley Schaeffer]

I really like the idea of someone coming up with his or her own ranking of the best players of all time because it will likely lead to a consensus.

[mjen43]

Here's how I would rank them subject to change of course:

 

1. Tiger Woods

2. Jack Nicklaus

3. Sam Snead

4. Ben Hogan

5. Arnold Palmer

6. Tom Watson

7. Gary Player

8. Byron Nelson

9. Phil Mickelson

10. Lee Trevino

11. Billy Casper

12. Seve Ballesteros

 

Followed by a large group including:

 

13. Nick Faldo

14. Ernie Els

15. Vijay Singh

16. Cary Middlecoff

17. Jimmy Demaret

18. Raymond Floyd

19. Greg Norman

20. Johnny Miller

21. Nick Price

22. Jim Barnes

23. Tommy Armour

24. Hale Irwin

25. Julius Boros

 

This excludes 6 obvious guys who are just too difficult to place. They are:

 

1. Bobby Jones

2. Walter Hagen

3. Gene Sarazen

4. Harry Vardon

5. Bobby Locke

6. Peter Thomson

 

 

Good list but no Rory is a major oversight. He'd slot in right after Vijay IMO. Also Spieth > Boros.

[redfirebird08]

Here's how I would rank them subject to change of course:

 

1. Tiger Woods

2. Jack Nicklaus

3. Sam Snead

4. Ben Hogan

5. Arnold Palmer

6. Tom Watson

7. Gary Player

8. Byron Nelson

9. Phil Mickelson

10. Lee Trevino

11. Billy Casper

12. Seve Ballesteros

 

Followed by a large group including:

 

13. Nick Faldo

14. Ernie Els

15. Vijay Singh

16. Cary Middlecoff

17. Jimmy Demaret

18. Raymond Floyd

19. Greg Norman

20. Johnny Miller

21. Nick Price

22. Jim Barnes

23. Tommy Armour

24. Hale Irwin

25. Julius Boros

 

This excludes 6 obvious guys who are just too difficult to place. They are:

 

1. Bobby Jones

2. Walter Hagen

3. Gene Sarazen

4. Harry Vardon

5. Bobby Locke

6. Peter Thomson

 

 

Good list but no Rory is a major oversight. He'd slot in right after Vijay IMO. Also Spieth > Boros.

 

Vijay has 43 wins on the Euro and PGA Tours, 40 excluding majors. Rory has 21 wins on the two big tours, 17 excluding majors. Are you saying 1 major is equal to 23 regular wins? Rory is well on his way, but let's give him some time to get there.

[Hawkeye77]

I would swap Ben Hogan and Jack but otherwise looks decent enough. I guess Is it looks decent enough as is.

 

Sigh.

[Golfnutgalen]

 

Good list but no Rory is a major oversight. He'd slot in right after Vijay IMO. Also Spieth > Boros.

 

I thought about including Rors, but I didn't want to include the new guys just yet. Eventually they'll be up there, probably ahead of Norman and potentially ahead of Vijay like you said.

[mjen43]

Here's how I would rank them subject to change of course:

 

1. Tiger Woods

2. Jack Nicklaus

3. Sam Snead

4. Ben Hogan

5. Arnold Palmer

6. Tom Watson

7. Gary Player

8. Byron Nelson

9. Phil Mickelson

10. Lee Trevino

11. Billy Casper

12. Seve Ballesteros

 

Followed by a large group including:

 

13. Nick Faldo

14. Ernie Els

15. Vijay Singh

16. Cary Middlecoff

17. Jimmy Demaret

18. Raymond Floyd

19. Greg Norman

20. Johnny Miller

21. Nick Price

22. Jim Barnes

23. Tommy Armour

24. Hale Irwin

25. Julius Boros

 

This excludes 6 obvious guys who are just too difficult to place. They are:

 

1. Bobby Jones

2. Walter Hagen

3. Gene Sarazen

4. Harry Vardon

5. Bobby Locke

6. Peter Thomson

 

 

Good list but no Rory is a major oversight. He'd slot in right after Vijay IMO. Also Spieth > Boros.

 

Vijay has 43 wins on the Euro and PGA Tours, 40 excluding majors. Rory has 21 wins on the two big tours, 17 excluding majors. Are you saying 1 major is equal to 23 regular wins? Rory is well on his way, but let's give him some time to get there.

 

No. That's why I said after Vijay.

[lowheel]

The only ? I have is how high would TW be had he won the 09 open .

Winning opens in the tiger and Nicklaus era

 

Would have been the greatest sporting achievement ever and vaulted watson into the top 5-6 in my mind.

[lowheel]

I would swap Ben Hogan and Jack but otherwise looks decent enough. I guess Is it looks decent enough as is.

 

ROFL !!

[iBanesto]

In the end whatever the methodology is to rank the best golfers across different eras, there is always going to flawed and bias in one way or another.

 

There is not one methodology that has objectively measured field strength prior to the OWGR.

 

In conclusion, Nicklaus is the best. Case closed.

[Aaronwilson_95]

Also none off these list include Bernhard Langer

Second in all time wins on the Euro tour & champions tour & 2 green jackets . 110 pro wins

[Roadking2003]

Also none off these list include Bernhard Langer

Second in all time wins on the Euro tour & champions tour & 2 green jackets . 110 pro wins

 

But only 3 wins in 288 starts on the PGA Tour and that tour counts a lot more than the others.

[gvogel]

I like to keep it simple and just use the two most important tournaments, historically: Open Championship and US Open.

 

So you get:

Jack Nicklaus (7)

Bobby Jones

Harry Vardon

Tiger Woods (6)

Tom Watson

Walter Hagen

etc.

[Christosterone]

Saturn is the best planet...

Why?

Rings baby!!

 

-Chris

[cardoustie]

Player WAAAAAY too high .. as is Mickelson

 

And sorry but Bobby Jones is top 5 of all time, hard to not see that. Winning percentage off the charts till his nerve disease did him in

 

Byron Nelson always under ranked. Guy had a better stomach he'd have 10 more majors. He was retired for 20 + years and still better at golf than the top pro's (on TV to boot) that followed him

 

Arnold Palmer has to be in the top 10. Majors, PGA tour wins and growth of the game. Some of these guys like Norman and Player with all their international wins ... weight must be applied inversely to the wins against much weaker fields that existed back then

[lumberman2462]

There has to be a smart programming guy out there that can create a baseline or algorithm or something and take the OWGRs all the way back to Old Tom Morris.....

 

The records of the events are available somewhere.

 

This should be some Theoretical Mathematician's Doctoral Thesis.

 

Then we'd all know.

[tiderider]

player too high? ... won 6 of his 9 majors after jack came on the scene ... technically 7 since one of them was during '62 ... finished 2nd in the pga at the age of 50 ...

[Ajit]

I can't see Mickelson ahead of Watson, simply because Watson took down Nicklaus in two of Watson's major wins: the '77 Open at Turnberry and the '82 US Open at Pebble Beach. Mickelson didn't have the same success against his contemporary Tiger Woods. Tiger dominated the era and Mickelson didn't even come close, in my opinion.

 

The same goes for Arnold Palmer. Whether he won his majors in a short window or a long one, is irrelevant, in my opinion. He still won them regardless, and it set the tone for what the rest of his career would be, even if it lacked major wins. He has to be ahead of Watson, Trevino, and Player. And Mickelson for that matter.

 

Tom also beat Jack in the 1977 Masters and Jack struggled to a runner up finish against Tom in the 1981 Masters.

 

Watson was also PGA Tour money winner and Player of the Year four years in a row. Tiger Woods is the only other golfer to do that.

 

Phil has never been Player of the Year and has never been ranked #1 in the world. He has never beaten Tiger Woods to deny him a major title.

 

In summation, Phil has never been THE MAN, nor has he ever beaten THE MAN.

 

 

I realize this was written back in 2013, but if you're going to rank Phil #6 all time, you almost have to rank Tiger #1 over Jack.

 

Where's Johnny?!?!

 

Johnny Revolta or Johnny Palmer?

 

Tiger was well in contention on Sunday in 4 out of Phil's 5 major victories (all except the 2004 Masters). Heck Tiger was three shots ahead of Phil going into the final day of the 2013 Open Championship and shot 74 compared to Phil's 66. Your argument seems to be that Phil's major victories would mean more if Tiger had been good enough to finish second, which is ridiculous.