Now we start to question whether Phil should be in the top 10 golfers of all time, having won 3 of the 4 majors. You certainly still put Jack, Tiger, Hagen, Player, Hogan, Watson, Palmer, Snead, Sarazan and Jones ahead of him. So that puts him at 11 at best. And then the argument for 11th between Nelson, Trevino and Phil. I probably still put Nelson at 11 with the 52 PGA wins. Trevino impressively winning 3 of the 4 majors twice each, having 1 more major than Phil. But Phil with 13 more PGA wins (42-29). So I would place him at 12 right now. A career slam and he is in the top 10 ahead of either Sarazan or Jones. Jones is an enigma as he only had 9 PGA wins, 6 of them majors. A short but extremely successful career, especially at the majors. There was no Masters for him to win back then, so he could have ended up close to double digit majors had that been the case. Hard to place him in the pantheon of the game's greats. Some experts probably would put him as high as the top 5 of all time (Jack, Tiger, Hogan, Snead, Jones). My top 20 (majors and PGA tour wins listed): 1. Jack Nicklaus (18 majors, 73 wins, ***won all 4 majors at least 3 times) 2. Tiger Woods (14 majors, 78 wins, ***won all 4 majors at least 3 times) 3. Ben Hogan (9 majors, 64 wins, ***won all 4 majors) 4. Sam Snead (7 majors, 82 wins) 5. Gary Player (9 majors, 24 wins, 165 Professional wins - most all time, ***won all 4 majors) 6. Walter Hagen (11 majors, 45 wins, ***won all 3 majors - no Masters tournament during his career) 7. Arnold Palmer (7 majors, 62 wins) 8. Gene Sarazan (7 majors, 39 wins, ***won all 4 majors) 9. Bobby Jones (6 majors, 9 wins, 6 more amateur majors) 10. Tom Watson (8 majors, 39 wins) 11. Byron Nelson (5 majors, 52 wins) 12. Phil Mickelson (5 majors, 42 wins) 13. Harry Vardon (6 majors, the first "great" golfer, the "Icon of Golfing", tranformed the game) 14. Lee Trevino (6 majors, 29 wins) 15. Seve Ballesteros (5 majors, 9 wins, 50 European Tour wins - most all time) 16. Nick Faldo (6 majors, 9 wins, 30 European Tour wins) 17. Billy Casper (3 majors, 51 wins) 18. Cary Middlecolf (3 majors, 40 wins) 19. Jimmy Demaret (3 majors, 31 wins) 20. Vijay Singh (3 majors, 34 wins) Norman, Floyd, Els, Irwin, Armour, Price and Boros would be in the next grouping. I think you could argue anyone from 11-16 at the #11 spot. If Phil wins the US Open at some point (and by that time he would have won maybe another Masters), then you start to talk about him being as high as 6, ahead of Arnold Palmer, since he would be only 1 of 6 golfers to win all 4 majors). He's playing some of the best golf of his career, it's the best he has ever putted this year, and given his track record of not gettin any injuries, I think he can eclipse the 50 win mark (something he has alluded to as a career goal recently) and between 6 and 8 majors most likely.
Tried to find a listing someone has put out recently of the top 20 golfers of all time: Athlon Sports (as of June 2013 before Phil's win today) 1. Woods 2. Nicklaus 3. Snead 4. Palmer 5. Hogan 6. Jones 7. Watson 8. Player 9. Sarazen 10. Ballesteros 11. Nelson 12. Trevino 13. Mickelson 14. Faldo 15. Hagen 16. Els 17. Casper 18. Singh 19. Middlecolf 20. Norman They left out Vardon, which is simply crazy. I definitely take issue with Watson over Player. Player won 2 more majors and is one of only 5 to win all 4 majors. That's a no brainer for me. I don't understand Hagen at 15 (3rd most majors of all time without ever having played the Masters). Everything else seems reasonably close to my list. Here is Clicktop10's top 10 list: 1. Woods 2. Nicklaus 3. Hagen 4. Hogan 5. Watson 6. Palmer 7. Player 8. Snead 9. Sarazen 10. Jones Here is TopTenz.net's top 10 list: 1. Nicklaus 2. Woods 3. Hogen 4. Hagen 5. Player 6. Snead 7. Jones 8. Palmer 9. Watson 10. Nelson That one is closest to my list.
Good for Phil Mickelson. Good sportsman and through it all keeps smiling. Starting to wonder how many times Westwood can step on his own tongue at a major before he ends up breaking his own spirit.
I thought this was his best chance ever, and he simply played horribly today tee to green. It's not like he got bad breaks or putted horribly (although he didn't light it up either). But he simply had way too many poor drives and iron shots. Not a great day. Thank goodness for him it was overshadowed by Phil's play. Imagine Stenson winning the Open at even par. The only thing we would be talking about is the choke job by Westwood, needing to only score 2 over par today to win.
The tournament was really anyone's for the taking. Just looked like everyone was trying hard not to lose. Tiger's putter went south again on red day. I honestly think the course was intimidating to the point no one wanted to take a chance at winning. Phil kicked it in swashbuckler mode and history was made.
Yeah, what he did at 17 to try to get on in 2 when you could easily argue he didn't need to be aggressive there. But he hit an absolutely perfect drive and an ever better more impressive 3 wood off the deck to get it to go 290 yards and straight as an arrow, when he needed 303 yards to the hole. An easy 2 putt for birdie was the result. He certainly conquered the course the likes you rarely see on a Sunday at the Open Championship.
Phil moved up to #2 in the world with the win today. Just think, a little over a year ago, you had Tiger trying to get back into the top 10 somehow and Phil barely hanging on to the top 10. What a difference a year makes.
Wednesday night I told my buddy to make a $100 bet on Phil going off at 16-1. He didn't get the bet in on time. Easy come easy go.
I like your list, Islstl. I would agree w/your positionings (word?). I agree w/Nicklaus above TW at this point. It's close, but the past few years have really tarnished TW. So glad to see PMichelson winning and putting himself into this conversation. He is such a talented player, and finally enough major results to go w/his talent.
Consider the fact Jack Nicklaus has 19 second place finishes in majors. Tiger has only 6. That's the real separation for me, even if Tiger gets to 18. Competition wise from 1962-1986, Jack had Arnold Palmer in the first half of his career, he had Player, Floyd and Trevino for the majority of his entire career, he had Watson and Seve on the back half of his career. Tiger has had Phil and VJ as his only steady competition. And VJ fell off after 2005, so that only lasted 10 years or so. Faldo, Price and Norman were done by the time 97 rolled around. Couples never capitalized on his talents and ended up with chronic back issues. Duval's flame blew out as quickly as it was lit. Rory is a head case and will never be great unless something changes in his life (like losing his girlfriend, for starters).
