Gary Player
Rory McIlroy
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 Rory McIlroy at #12.
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 Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy is the finest ball-striker of his era and, since April 2025, a member of golf's most exclusive club. His victory at the 2025 Masters completed the career Grand Slam, making him only the sixth man to win all four professional majors and ending an eleven-year major drought that had come to define his prime. McIlroy has won 5 majors in all, including the 2011 U.S. Open by eight shots and back-to-back majors in the summer of 2014, along with roughly 29 PGA Tour titles and more than 120 weeks at World No. 1. Blessed with prodigious clubhead speed and a classic, rhythmic swing, he has topped the European order of merit repeatedly and stood as the leading voice and on-course face of professional golf through the tour's era of upheaval.