The Overflow

James	Anderson	Jeff	Maggert
Willie	Anderson	John	Mahaffey
Isao	Aoki	Bob	Martin
Tommy	Armour	John	McDermott
Jim	Barnes	Graeme	McDowell
Thomas	Bjorn	Larry	Mize
Jack	Burke Jr.	Old Tom	Morris
Mark	Calcavecchia	Young Tom	Morris
Paul	Casey	Geoff	Ogilvy
Bob	Charles	Willie	Park Jr.
Henry	Cotton	Henry	Picard
Bruce	Crampton	Ted	Ray
Olin	Dutra	Bill	Rogers
Bob	Ferguson	Paul	Runyan
Doug	Ford	Scott	Simpson
Sandy	Herd	Jeff	Sluman
Harold	Hilton	Alex	Smith
Jock	Hutchison	Horton	Smith
Tony	Lema	Bob	Tway
Bobby	Locke	Mike	Weir

	GOAT	Years
1	John Henry Taylor	1895-1899
2	Harry Vardon	1899-1924
3	Walter Hagen	1924-1930
4	Bobby Jones	1930-1953
5	Ben Hogan	1953-1971
6	Jack Nicklaus	1971-2008
7	Tiger Woods	2008-present

Every ranking update ever (Last golf update: 1/2/26 Next golf update: January ’26)

The making of the list.

The Rules

If you disagree with the placement of an athlete whose prime occurred before 1975, please read The ChatGPT Cautionary Tale before commenting.

Historically undervalued: 🔵

Rank	Player			Years	Country
1	Tiger Woods		Why?	1999-active	USA
2	Jack Nicklaus			1957-2005	USA
3	Phil Mickelson	🔵	Why?	1990-active	USA
4	Ben Hogan			1934-1967	USA
5	Sam Snead			1937-1983	USA
6	Arnold Palmer			1952-2004	USA
7	Tom Watson			1970-2016	USA
8	Gary Player			1956-2009	S. Africa
9	Rory McIIroy			2007-active	N. Ireland
10	Bobby Jones			1916-1948	USA
11	Scottie Scheffler			2016-active	USA
12	Ernie Els	🔵		1989-active	S. Africa
13	Nick Faldo			1976-2015	England
14	Seve Ballesteros			1975-2007	Spain
15	Lee Trevino			1966-2000	USA
16	Greg Norman	🔵		1977-2009	Australia
17	Brooks Koepka			2012-active	USA
18	Walter Hagen			1913-1942	USA
19	Gene Sarazen			1920-1976	USA
20	Byron Nelson			1934-1966	USA
21	Vijay Singh			1989-active	Fiji
22	Nick Price			1975-2006	Zimbabwe
23	Dustin Johnson			2008-active	USA
24	Bernhard Langer			1976-2023	Germany
25	Billy Casper			1956-2005	USA
26	Raymond Floyd			1963-2009	USA
27	Jordan Spieth			2012-active	USA
28	Ben Crenshaw			1970-2015	USA
29	Hale Irwin			1966-2004	USA
30	Payne Stewart			1981-1999	USA
31	Xander Schauffele			2017-active	USA
32	Pádraig Harrington			1996-active	Ireland
33	Jon Rahm			2016-active	Spain
34	Justin Thomas			2014-active	USA
35	Sergio Garcia			1996-active	Spain
36	Justin Rose			1998-acitve	England
37	Jason Day			2010-active	Australia
38	Adam Scott			2000-active	Australia
39	Julius Boros			1950-1980	USA
40	Harry Vardon			1893-1929	Jersey
41	John Henry Taylor			1893-1929	England
42	James Braid			1894-1938	Scotland
43	José María Olazábal			1984-2018	Spain
44	Johnny Miller			1966-1994	USA
45	Larry Nelson			1976-2011	USA
46	Davis Love III			1986-2020	USA
47	Fred Couples			1979-2024	USA
48	Jim Furyk	🔵		1994-2022	USA
49	Cary Middlecoff			1946-1971	USA
50	Lanny Wadkins			1970-2001	USA
51	Tom Kite			1970-2004	USA
52	Tom Weiskopf			1965-2004	USA
53	Reteif Goosen			1999-2012	S. Africa
54	Louis Oosthuizen	🔵		2004-active	S. Africa
55	Henrik Stenson			2001-active	Sweden
56	Lee Westwood	🔵		1995-2022	England
57	Martin Kaymer			2008-active	Germany
58	David Duval			1990-2022	USA
59	Steve Elkington	🔵		1988-2011	Australia
60	Justin Leonard			1993-2024	USA
61	Hubert Green			1969-1996	USA
62	Curtis Strange			1975-2002	USA
63	Mark O’Meara			1980-2018	USA
64	Bryson DeChambeau			2015-active	USA
65	Ian Woosnam			1982-2021	Wales
66	Fuzzy Zoeller			1976-2009	USA
67	Tom Lehman			1986-2019	USA
68	Collin Morikawa			2019-active	USA
69	Bubba Watson			2004-active	USA
70	Zach Johnson			2004-active	USA
71	Angel Cabrera			1997-2019	Argentina
72	Sandy Lyle			1974-2013	Scotland
73	Lee Janzen			1985-2015	USA
74	David Graham			1970-1995	Australia
75	Jerry Pate			1975-2011	USA
76	Dave Stockton			1968-1997	USA
77	Paul Azinger			1983-2009	USA
78	Hal Sutton			1980-2005	USA
79	Tommy Fleetwood			2014-active	England
80	Leo Diegel			1920-1939	USA
81	Jimmy Demaret			1935-1967	USA
82	Denny Shute			1926-1972	USA
83	Tony Jacklin			1963-2007	England
84	Colin Montgomerie	🔵		1990-2016	Scotland
85	Luke Donald			1999-2024	England
86	Craig Wood			1925-1964	USA
87	Ralph Guldahl			1930-1973	USA
88	Ian Poulter			2000-2022	England
89	Rickie Fowler			2008-active	USA
90	Hideki Matsuyama			2011-active	Japan
91	Matt Kuchar			1998-active	USA
92	Corey Pavin			1981-2010	USA
93	Darren Clarke			1991-active	N. Ireland
94	Stewart Cink			1996-active	USA
95	Peter Thomson			1951-1984	Australia
96	Steve Stricker	🔵		1993-2021	USA
97	Craig Stadler			1974-2014	USA
98	Andy North			1974-1995	USA
99	John Daly			1986-2024	USA
100	David Toms			1996-2019	USA

The rest of the best golfers of all time.