The Top 10 Best Golfers Ever (Updated)

Editor’s Note: Our original list was published last April. After Rory McIlroy’s Masters victory, we have amended the list and are re-publishing the story.

When it comes to making lists about golf, few are tougher than ranking the best male players ever.

There is a lot to consider, especially when comparing players from different eras. Each time period has different standards for technology, depth of competition and the number of tournaments being played; there is so much about this list that is subjective.

Major victories, for example, are incongruent across eras based on some of these factors.

I tried to come up with an appropriate mix of old school and new school, weighing major wins heavily. Other accomplishments, such as PGA Tour wins and Ryder Cup prowess, were also considered.

What I didn’t factor in was overall influence on the game. I endeavored to make a list based purely on accomplishments and playing ability rather than stardom.

You could easily make a case for 20-plus guys to make this list but these are the 10 I think have the best case for being a top-10 golfer of all time.

10. Rory McIlroy

There are a lot of directions to go in for the 10th-best golfer ever. In my original article published last year, I placed Phil Mickelson in this spot. There were others in the running, including Byron Nelson, Lee Trevino, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros and Gene Sarazen.

However, I feel like Rory McIlroy’s second Masters victory—his sixth major—has vaulted him into this position.

McIlroy is the only European golfer to complete the career Grand Slam and no European has more major wins in the modern era. Faldo (6) and Ballesteros (5) have their arguments to being named the greatest European golfer in history but I believe McIlroy has surpassed them (I talked more about this in a recent article after the Masters).

It’s tough to make a top-10 list and not include any Europeans. It’s also tough to make this list and not include anyone from the 2010s-2020s era.

McIlroy gets my vote for this spot. Ultimately, I think it won’t even be a debate by the end of his career.

9. Tom Watson

Perhaps the greatest links player ever, Watson won five Open Championships across eight years at a time when Jack Nicklaus was in his prime. Watson had to outduel Nicklaus a few times in his career, most notably in the 1977 Open Championship at Turnberry.

Watson also had two Masters victories and a U.S. Open triumph. Nicklaus was runner-up in all three of those major wins.

Although his best golf was condensed to the late ’70s and early ’80s, Watson had 39 Tour wins from 1974 to 1998. He also won the player of the year honors on Tour six times.

Had he won the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry as a 59-year-old, it “would have been a hell of a story,” as Watson said. He also might be higher up on this list. Regardless, I think Watson is a no-doubt top-10 golfer ever.

8. Walter Hagen

There is some debate where to place Hagen because of the era he played in: nine of his 11 major titles came during the 1920s and he won five PGA Championships at a time when the event was not as heralded as it is now. However, he also won five Western Opens, a very prestigious event at the time.

Deciding how many majors to credit Hagen relative to modern players is tricky given that his best golf came before the Masters existed. The professional game was not nearly as developed at the time and The Haig did a lot to advance pro golf. In many ways, Hagen helped make professional golf what it is today.

No matter how you slice it, Hagen was a legendary figure.

7. Arnold Palmer

In a ranking of influential figures, Palmer would be higher. No one in the sport’s history did more to popularize the game than The King. In a ranking of pure talent, he safely makes the top 10 but doesn’t challenge for the top spots.

Palmer had 62 Tour victories, highlighted by seven major wins. He won four Masters, one U.S. Open and two Open Championships. Palmer finished runner-up in the PGA Championship three times but never won.

All of Palmer’s major victories came in a seven-year span (1958-1964). The majority of his top play came in the ’60s; he won just four individual Tour titles after that.

There is no doubting that his grit, determination, charisma and desire for the spotlight made him perhaps the most revered and popular golfer to ever play.

6. Gary Player

Having won more than 150 times around the world, Player earned the right to be called golf’s first great international ambassador.

Player ia one of just six men to win all four majors, totaling nine major titles across 21 years. He is also just one of four players to have won the Masters and Open Championship each three times. Player’s career was punctuated by a dramatic Sunday rally during the 1978 Masters where he shot a final-round 64 to erase a seven-stroke deficit and surpass Hubert Green.

The length of Player’s career, the variety of victories and the fact he won all four majors (the only non-American to do so aside from McIlroy) puts him ahead of Palmer for me.

5. Sam Snead

While some of Snead’s 142 professional victories—82 of which came on Tour—are not as meaningful as others, there is no denying The Slammer enjoyed perhaps the greatest longevity of any top golfer in history.

Snead won an event in six different decades, captured the Greater Greensboro Open eight times and is still the oldest player to ever win a Tour event. He made the cut in a Tour event at the age of 67.

His seven major titles include three Masters, three PGAs and one Open Championship. He never captured a U.S. Open, one of the main reasons I don’t have him higher on the list.

Snead played in his first major in 1937 and his last at the 1983 Masters. He played the Open Championship just five times in that span but he played in every single Masters that was held (there was no tournament for three years during World War II). That is 44 (!) consecutive Masters if you count the times he withdrew.

4. Bobby Jones

It’s difficult to imagine one of the greatest golfers in history essentially walking away from competitive golf at the age of 28 but that is what Jones did.

Jones played in 31 major championships (the U.S. Amateur and British Amateur were considered majors at the time) and won 13 of them. That, of course, included the 1930 Grand Slam where he won all four titles in one year. Less than two months later, Jones retired and went on to practice law in Atlanta (he also co-founded a little tournament called the Masters in 1934).

It’s incredible that Jones, an amateur, put all of his accomplishments in an eight-year window and regularly beat the likes of Hagen and Gene Sarazen. He also graduated from Harvard and Emory.

While Jones could have been the greatest golfer in history if he played another decade, his story is more fascinating for having retired young. For him, there was a lot more to life than golf.

3. Ben Hogan

There are a few different players who could fit into the No. 3 position on this list. I went with Hogan.

Perhaps the best pure ball striker ever, The Hawk won nine majors and 64 Tour events, one of just five men to win all four majors. He is still the only player to ever win the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship in the same year (Jordan Spieth came dangerously close in 2015 but fell short at The Open). He also set the U.S. Open scoring record in 1948 and it wouldn’t be broken for 52 years. Hogan also has the record for most consecutive top-10 major finishes (18).

Hogan lost two years of his golf prime due to serving in the Air Force during World War II and then his body was wrecked after a nearly fatal car accident in 1949. Remarkably, he won six majors (in the span of eight major starts) after that accident. He only ever played one Open Championship in his career, winning the 1953 edition at Carnoustie. Imagine if he played more across the pond?

Beyond his records, Hogan deserves the third spot because of the grace and work ethic he put into the game. The ownership of his swing and game is unparalleled in golf history.

2. Jack Nicklaus

The enormity of Nicklaus’s career is hard to comprehend.

The Golden Bear won 18 majors (and finished runner-up another 19 times in majors!) among his 73 Tour victories. He won a record six Masters titles and has a ludicrous 56 top-five major finishes. Nicklaus also had the lowest scoring average on Tour eight times, matching how many times he won the money title.

Although he wasn’t embraced by the fans as much as Palmer, Nicklaus set the standard for physical and mental greatness. His first and last major wins came 24 years apart—the 1962 U.S. Open and 1986 Masters—displaying an insane longevity I doubt we’ll ever see again.

His major record is safe for eternity. There are too many great players now and too much money involved in the game for one player to rattle off 19 major victories.

1. Tiger Woods

While his 15 major victories falls short of Nicklaus, Woods deserves the top spot in my book.

His ability to separate from competition in unfathomable ways—breaking the Masters scoring record in 1997, winning the 2000 U.S. Open by 12 shots and recording a season stroke average south of 68—is something no other golfer can reasonably claim.

His 82 Tour wins were all fully legitimate and he has the lowest career scoring average in Tour history. He’s the only player in the modern era to win four consecutive majors. And how does 10 player-of-the-year awards sound?

I’ve often heard it said that Nicklaus had the better career but Woods played the best golf. While that might be true, I think you have to account for more depth of competition in Tiger’s era. You also have to account for how he completely transformed golf in the way he trained physically and the style he played the game.

Agree? Disagree? Who should be on this list? Let me know below in the comments.

Top Photo Caption: Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus together during the 150th Open Championship. (GETTY IMAGES/Kevin C. Cox)