Ben Hogan
Seve Ballesteros
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Ben Hogan leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Ben Hogan at #3 and Seve Ballesteros at #11.
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The case for Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan is the game's ideal of ball-striking perfection, the man whose swing has been studied frame by frame for seventy years. He won nine majors despite losing prime years to World War II service and a near-fatal 1949 car crash that shattered his pelvis and legs. Sixteen months later he won the 1950 U.S. Open at Merion, and in 1953 he produced the greatest single season of his era, winning the Masters, U.S. Open and Open Championship, the only three majors he entered that year, a run remembered as the Hogan Triple. He captured 64 PGA Tour titles and four U.S. Opens across his career. His 1957 book, Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, remains the most influential instruction manual ever written and shaped how generations understood the swing.
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.