3rd Best Player Ever

[Lord Tyrion]

Listening to the commentators on the golf this afternoon they asked a great question which is rarely asked. If we take Jack and Tiger as the two best golfers of all time, who is next?

With my limited historical knowledge I'll start with Tom Watson but am happy to be educated.

 

[Imurg]

Dear God, there's enough heated debate about Jack and Tiger when there's only two possible best...
There must be upward of a dozen candidates for this one.....
Arnie, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Hogan, Snead, Hagen, Sarazen, Bobby Jones etc etc...
Far too many possible for me....

 

[Papas1982]

Listening to the commentators on the golf this afternoon they asked a great question which is rarely asked. If we take Jack and Tiger as the two best golfers of all time, who is next?

With my limited historical knowledge I'll start with Tom Watson but am happy to be educated.

Walter Hagen.

Those that say Jack is best usually state it’s because of his major record. So surely we just go down the list.....

 

[Deleted member 15344]

It’s very hard to judge because some of the possible best golfers were around when not many of us could watch

Bobby Jones for example is reported to have been one the most talented ever seen who if he hadn’t retired early and turned pro who have swept all before him

Then there are people like Hogan who would have been up there with the best ever but had an accident

Add in players like Vardon and Hagen

Then there is Sam Snead who was still competing in his 60’s

If you are going to rank by the sheer number of wins then Nicklaus and Woods number two with Snead second but if you go by talent because some players couldn’t and didn’t play as much as players like Woods then you can say Jones could also be the best ever and you would have Woods at three

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Come on fella's, just going by majors is a bit dull. No debate in that.

I understand the issue trying to judge the likes of Snead and Jones so let's refine this and only include golfers actively playing and winning from the 1960's onwards.

 

[Deleted member 16999]

Listening to the commentators on the golf this afternoon they asked a great question which is rarely asked. If we take Jack and Tiger as the two best golfers of all time, who is next?

With my limited historical knowledge I'll start with Tom Watson but am happy to be educated.

Who did they say? The problem with any of these debates is, it’s down to personal opinion, do you go on statistics alone or the opinions of others (so called experts) who you may or may not respect or talent, luckily enough I’m old enough to have seen a few mentioned and on talent alone, Seve, for me, is right up there.

 

[jim8flog]

As often said it depends on your point of view and far too much emphasis is placed on majors.

Some of the more recent names for me would be Seve, Montgomery (look at his order of merit wins), Faldo, Norman, Watson.

I can say that I do not know about a lot about many of the mid century players but for some there records speak for themselves Hogan, Snead, Hagen

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Who did they say? The problem with any of these debates is, it’s down to personal opinion, do you go on statistics alone or the opinions of others (so called experts) who you may or may not respect or talent, luckily enough I’m old enough to have seen a few mentioned and on talent alone, Seve, for me, is right up there.

They didn't actually. One of them said it as a throwaway comment and the other picked up on it as a great one for a discussion instead of the usual Jack v Tiger. They couldn't expand on it as something else then happened. It wasn't the usual commentary team, it was those on the early shift covering the 'featured group's.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Hard to pick one. Seve, Monty, Faldo, Watson would all be contenders. If we are basing Nicklaus and Woods as the top two based on major wins, then you'd have to put the third place person based on that. However, I'll be contentious and say Nicklaus wouldn't be in my top two, and I'd substitute Seve, purely on his shot making skills and short game.

 

[fundy]

Hard to pick one. Seve, Monty, Faldo, Watson would all be contenders. If we are basing Nicklaus and Woods as the top two based on major wins, then you'd have to put the third place person based on that. However, I'll be contentious and say Nicklaus wouldn't be in my top two, and I'd substitute Seve, purely on his shot making skills and short game.

ROFL a golfer who couldnt win a major potentially the third best player ever? Nicklaus not in the top 2? Ill have a large glass of what Homies been drinking please

 

[HomerJSimpson]

ROFL a golfer who couldnt win a major potentially the third best player ever? Nicklaus not in the top 2? Ill have a large glass of what Homies been drinking please

If you're going to mock then read properly. I said Monty would be a "contender" and I'm not alone in that assumption if you read the thread. I also said I wasn't going to base my view purely on major wins alone. Problem with that?

 

[andycap]

Fundamentally who gives a dam ? the only thing that matters in anything is being the best , nobody strives to be 2nd or 3rd best at anything .

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Fundamentally who gives a dam ? the only thing that matters in anything is being the best , nobody strives to be 2nd or 3rd best at anything .

The point being that the discussion is always about two players. There have been brilliant players just behind those two and it is nice to talk about those for a change.

 

[Deleted member 1147]

What about Mickleson. He’s won a shed load all during the Norman, Els, Singh & Woods eras

 

[richart]

Probably Hogan for me, though mentions for Watson, Palmer, Player and Trevino.

 

[richart]

Hard to pick one. Seve, Monty, Faldo, Watson would all be contenders. If we are basing Nicklaus and Woods as the top two based on major wins, then you'd have to put the third place person based on that. However, I'll be contentious and say Nicklaus wouldn't be in my top two, and I'd substitute Seve, purely on his shot making skills and short game.

Nicklaus not in the top two ?

 

[paddyc]

If you're going to mock then read properly. I said Monty would be a "contender" and I'm not alone in that assumption if you read the thread. I also said I wasn't going to base my view purely on major wins alone. Problem with that?

ROFL a golfer who couldnt win a major potentially the third best player ever? Nicklaus not in the top 2? Ill have a large glass of what Homies been drinking please

Can you pour me one too mate!! once i have got up. You cannot be serious Homer, he is not even a "contender." Yes he is better player than a lot of major winners, but there is a host of players who have the right to be considered as the 3rd best player ever, Monty not one of them.

 

[Deleted member 18588]

ROFL a golfer who couldnt win a major potentially the third best player ever? Nicklaus not in the top 2? Ill have a large glass of what Homies been drinking please

Nearly everyone that is being mentioned is from the recent past.

To suggest that Nicklaus is not up there but some guy who never won a Major nor on the most competitive Tour is........

Well that's a new level even for this forum!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

It very hard but going by what I have read and any programs etc then my top two would be Nicklaus and Jones with Woods and Hogan just behind. All these players played with different levels of equipment and on different courses - was it harder to win back in those days ? How many comps and majors would Jones had won if he didn’t retire and went Pro and of course Hogan could have won so much more - any talk of Monty being involved is laughable

 

[Dan2501]

For me it goes:

Tiger
Nicklaus

Jones