The history of the game dates back to the 15th century in Scotland. There have been athletes who have mastered the game throughout the centuries and got up to a level that only legends can reach. Each player has their individual back stories and their individual achievements that they have earned throughout their career.
This is where the question arises “Who is the greatest golfer of all time” or “Who is the best golfer of all time?” We have come up with the famous golfers or the top golfers of all time.
Best Golfers Of All Time Ranked
It could be a challenging task to compare the players with one another like it would be very difficult if we try to compare Tiger Woods to Old Tom Morris or Babe Zaharias to Ben Hogan. But the number can come tour aid. Measuring the worldwide wins, professional majors, and tour victories can be of great help.
1. Jack Niklaus
There is no question about the fact that Jack Nicklaus is still leading the list of the best-ever male golf players. He will be on top until someone breaks the record of winning 18 major titles. Overall, he won 73 PGA titles officially between the years 1962 and 1986.
He has a record of winning six major tournaments, 4 US Opens, 5 PGA, along with 3 British Opens. He won the final one in the 1986 masters, and this was among the few most memorable tournaments in the history of majors. In that tournament, he made six shots under par (30) in the final round of the back nine.
He continued winning his PGA tour till the year 1996 and won eight more titles. He finished in the sixth position in the 1998 Masters when he was 58. His last professional tournament was the Open Championship in 2005.
2. Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is considered one of the best golfers of all time. He is presently in a tie for the all-time PGA wins. In his career, he has a total of 82 PGA wins. He has won other championships as well, like 5 Masters tournaments, 3 US Opens, 3 British Opens, and 4 US PGA Championships. At just the age of 21, he won the 1997 Masters and became the youngest Grand Slam winner.
3. Ben Hogan
Even a near-death accident could not stop the player from giving his best performance. He invested a lot of time in practicing as well as developing swings that are seen to date in golf lessons. In 1953, he won 3 Majors in a single year.
He is the only golfer who shares this achievement with Tiger Woods. This is not a sport that needs any natural talent to be good at it. It is all about constant effort and dedication towards a practice that would ring out the result. He won 64 PGA tours in his career. 2 Masters, 2 US PGA, 4 US Open Championships, along with a solitary British Open.
4. Walter Hagen
Walter Hagen is still in the hearts of all the players who are playing and embracing the sport. He is among the best golfers of all time. During his playing career, he got 45 PGA Tour wins. His other wins include 5 US PGA wins, 3 US Open wins, one Solitary Masters win, and 4 British Open wins.
He was not only a good golfer, but he was a reasonably well pitcher as well. He got his name as a chartered member of the PGA Hall Of Fame in the year 1940 but then retired only after a year.
5. Bobby Jones
He is the only amateur player mentioned in this list who ended his golf career in just seven years due to some health issues. He won three Open Championships, Four US Opens. Inspite of his poor health, he participated in the Augusta National organization and co-founded the Masters.
6. Gary Player
This South African Golfer is popular for wearing all-black attire. This got him the title of “Mr. Fitnes,” “The Black Knight,” or the “International Ambassador of Golf.” His golf career ended with him winning 9 major victories. He also has 165 victories over the last 60 years in 6 continents.
7. Sam Snead
Sam Snead is a war veteran who fought in World War I and also managed to win seven major victories. It includes 3 PGA Championships, 3 Masters, and 1 US Open after getting back from the war. He also has the most number of PA victories that s 82, which gave him the nickname “Slammin’ Sammy.”
8. Tom Watson
He played mostly in Great Britain during his golf career. He almost won the Claret Jug over a period of nine years and won 5 Open Championships. He won two Masters tournaments in 1977 and 1981 and won the US Open in the year 1982. But he never won a PGA Championship during his career.
He got his place in the top 10 a minimum of 10 times in all four majors in which he participated. Jack Nicklaus is the other golfer who has the same achievement.
9. Byron Nelson
His PGA career was relatively short compared to any other golf player. He played from the year 1935 to 1946. He is popular for winning a record of 11 consecutive starts back in 1945. These 11 titles are a part of the total 18 which he won and are among the most impressive seasons in the history of the PGA.
In his 12-year golf career, he won five major championships. He won the PGA twice, the Masters as well, and once the US Open. He played in the Masters till the mid-1960s and returned back home in 1965. Even though he quit full-time playing in 1946, Nelson won the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 1951 as his final professional title.
He is considered one of the best golf players to date; he won many of the titles when his fellow peers were busy fighting in World War II. He did not make it to the selection because of his blood clotting disorder. After the war, he won six times; thus, there is no reason to question his talent.
10. Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer was the one who popularized golf in the middle of the twentieth century. The galleries were filled with fans who wanted to watch him in action from the 1950s to the 1960s. These crows got the name “Arnie’s Army.”
He won seven major Championships, and the first one was the Masters tournament of 1958. He won 4 Masters, 1 PGA title, and 2 British Opens from 1958 to 1964. He was the one who made the British Open important to American Golfers.
Wrapping Up!
If we look at the history of the ten best golfers of all time, the sport has to cover a much longer span than any other sport which is widely famous among the people. In terms of viewership, it still has to come a long way, as it is a not-so-popular choice among people and broadcasters as well. But it is not wrong to hope that the game will thrive in the coming future and will be a much-celebrated sport.
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