4 thoughts on “The 100 Greatest Golfers of All-Time”

1. 

   Hi Jake, I was preparing to come out in outrage over Mickelson at No 3. But honestly, I’m not sure who I prefer in that slot. Like you say there are probably 6 or 7 who you could make an argument for. I don’t really like the idea of a guy who was never really the best in the World as the third best of all-time, but he did face unheard of competition from Tiger. I supect Phil at 3 won’t age well if Tiger eventually gets supplanted at 1, but we’ll see.
   I think Walter Hagen is a touch low, though obviously he played a long time ago and I’m not sure McIlroy has delivered enough on his immense promise to be a top 10 guy. I might have Seve higher just because of what he meant to European golf and he had a decent spell as the best player in golf.

   1. 

      I did not expect the argument for Phil at #3 to be there. I knew he’d be firmly in the top-ten, but once it became obvious that he has been the second best golfer of the last 50 years (let’s say, since 1975), the dial really started to point towards him. I’m not in love with him at #3, but I could not make a better argument for someone else. Certainly, there are arguments for others, but none as good as Phil, IMO.

      I guess it depends on when Tiger would get supplanted. If it’s in 10 years, I agree. If it’s 25+ years, Phil probably keeps his relevance.

      With respect to Rory, I think there are two things that are true at the same time: 1). He has underdelivered, and he’d probably admit that and 2). His resume has the ammo at #10. I’ll probably do a deep dive over the summer, but he has had a strong Ryder Cup career, won 5 majors, the career slam, three Fed Ex Cups, the TPC, and has been year-end #1 three times, and year-end top-3 nine times. It’s hard to find 10 better resumes. Based on the scalding start to 2025, I’m excited about the possibilities over the next decade.

2. 

   Interesting list but I think it suffers from recency bias.

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      Hey Mark,

      I appreciate the comment. The last 30+ years of golf have been significantly more competitive than any other era prior, making it much more difficult to consistently win tournaments than in previous eras. If there wasn’t an adjustment made for this, then the entire top 15 would be filled with golfers who played prior to 1970 (and Tiger Woods). I don’t believe that the vast majority of the greatest golfers of all time played before 1970.