Arnold Palmer
Seve Ballesteros
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Arnold Palmer leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Arnold Palmer at #7 and Seve Ballesteros at #11.
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The case for Arnold Palmer
Arnold Palmer did not merely win; he made golf popular. The King brought a swashbuckling, go-for-broke style and blue-collar charisma that, wedded to the arrival of television, turned golf into a mass-market sport in the late 1950s and 1960s. He won 7 majors, four Masters, one U.S. Open and two Open Championships, and 62 PGA Tour events, and his decision to cross the Atlantic in 1960 revived the Open's global standing when American stars had been ignoring it. Palmer's devoted galleries became Arnie's Army. Though his major haul was smaller than his great rivals', his commercial impact was unmatched: he was the first athlete to build a business empire around his own name, and he defined the modern professional's reach and earning power far beyond the ropes of the course.
The case for Seve Ballesteros
Severiano Ballesteros was the most thrilling and imaginative player of his generation, a Spaniard whose flair reignited European golf. He won 5 majors, three Open Championships and two Masters, and more than 90 titles worldwide, including 50 on the European Tour, a tour record. Famous for wild drives and miraculous recoveries, Seve seemed to score from places no one else could reach, an artist of the short game and improvisation who turned trouble into birdies. Beyond his own victories he was the emotional engine of Europe's Ryder Cup revival, inspiring the breakthrough triumphs of 1985 and 1987 that ended American dominance, and later captaining the winning 1997 side at Valderrama in his native Spain. He died in 2011 at the age of 54, mourned across the game as the very soul of modern European golf.