Gary Player
Gene Sarazen
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Gary Player leads 2 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Gary Player at #6 and Gene Sarazen at #10.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Gary Player
Gary Player, the Black Knight from South Africa, is golf's greatest globetrotter, credited with more than 165 professional victories worldwide across six decades and an estimated 15 million air miles. He won 9 majors and became the third man to complete the career Grand Slam, at 29, winning each of the four at least once, including the 1965 U.S. Open, three Masters and three Open Championships. A fanatical devotee of fitness and diet decades before it was fashionable, the diminutive Player overcame a lack of length through iron will, a superb short game and outstanding bunker play. He was also an advocate for the game's growth on every continent and, in his later years, a tireless ambassador who has remained a visible presence at the Masters into his late eighties, a symbol of golf's global reach.
The case for Gene Sarazen
Gene Sarazen, the son of an immigrant carpenter, was the first player to win all four of the modern professional majors, completing the career Grand Slam in 1935. He won 7 majors in total, including two U.S. Opens, three PGA Championships and the 1935 Masters, and 39 PGA Tour events across a career that began in 1920. That Masters victory featured the shot heard round the world, a holed 4-wood for an albatross two on the 15th that forced a playoff he went on to win. Sarazen also changed the game's equipment forever by inventing the modern sand wedge in 1932, adding a flange that let the sole bounce through sand rather than dig, a design principle still used in every wedge made today, and one of golf's most important innovations.