Tom Watson
Rory McIlroy
Stat by stat
Bars are scaled to the leader in this list.
The verdict
Tom Watson leads 3 of 3 categories. Our all-time ranking places Tom Watson at #9 and Rory McIlroy at #12.
Head-to-head FAQ
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The case for Tom Watson
Tom Watson inherited the mantle of best player in the world in the late 1970s, dueling Jack Nicklaus in some of the sport's most famous encounters. He won 8 majors, including five Open Championships and two Masters, and his 1977 Duel in the Sun against Nicklaus at Turnberry, where Watson shot 65-65 to win by a single stroke, is regarded as the finest head-to-head in golf history. A brilliant links player and a fearless putter in his prime, he won 39 PGA Tour titles. Remarkably, at age 59 in 2009 he came within an eight-foot putt of winning a sixth Open at Turnberry, losing a playoff to Stewart Cink, the closest any player has come to capturing a major championship in his sixties, a near-miss that stunned the sport.
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.