{"id":250307,"date":"2025-10-30T06:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/250307\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T06:04:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T06:04:14","slug":"not-even-a-question-gary-player-reveals-his-top-3-golfers-of-all-time-and-it-may-surprise-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/250307\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Not even a question’: Gary Player reveals his top 3 golfers of all time, and it may surprise you"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Picture: Augusta National]<\/p>\n

There have been countless debates, articles and even books written by people trying to determine the greatest golfers of all time. Many have made their cases, but few as defiantly as Gary Player.<\/p>\n

The nine-time major champ turns 90 on Saturday and he recently revealed his own top-three list of the best players ever. It might surprise you, but for Player, \u201cThere\u2019s not even a question.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED: Gary Player calls the Ryder Cup the \u2018worst event in the world\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Player sat down with Tom D\u2019Angelo of the Palm Beach Post to discuss a wide array of topics. But it was the golf legend\u2019s ranking of other golf legends that caught our attention in particular.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack is number one, Tiger number two, and I\u2019m number three,\u201d Player said. \u201cThere\u2019s not even a question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strong words, but if anyone is allowed an opinion on the matter it should be a guy who won more than 160 professional golf tournaments during his storied career. Here was more of Player\u2019s reasoning:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow I judge the best players of all time is I say, \u2018there\u2019s the record book,\u2019 \u201d Player said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only way. It\u2019s the record book that\u2019s on paper. And Nicklaus has got the best record. There\u2019s no question.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Tiger Woods had made the right choices, he would have been the greatest player that ever lived. But the worst saying in athletics, in sports, is if. Because if is immaterial. It\u2019s the bottom line.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0The Old Course at St Andrews set to undergo changes ahead of 2027 Open<\/a><\/p>\n

Player gave Nicklaus the edge over Woods mainly for having more major wins (18 to 15) and far more major runner-ups (19 to 7). Of course, that\u2019s a pretty common take, and just about anyone would have some order of Tiger and Jack in the top two slots. But what about Gary Player putting Gary Player third?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they judge players, it\u2019s quit interesting, they put Bobby Jones and Arnold (Palmer) ahead of me,\u201d the South African said. \u201cYou can\u2019t tell me that an amateur golfer has a record that I have in golf. His record is not close to mine. You look at Arnold\u2019s record, it\u2019s not close to mine. I won more majors than Arnold. I won more tournaments than Arnold. I won more senior majors. My stroke averages were better. He didn\u2019t have the record, and he was my brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I love the fact, in a way, that they do that, because what he did for golf, and I grew up with him, he was supreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

All fair points by Gary, who is still going strong. According to President Donald Trump, Player recently shot 70 from 6,200 metres. And he\u2019ll once again tee it up with a family member at the PNC Championship in December. Maybe Player\u2019s not done adding to his trophy case\u2014and making his case for where he ranks in the game\u2019s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Picture: Augusta National] There have been countless debates, articles and even books written by people trying to determine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-250307","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-golf","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}