Gary Player
Seve Ballesteros
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Gary Player leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Gary Player at #6 and Seve Ballesteros at #11.
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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 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.