20 Greatest American Golfers in History [Ranked]

Golf is a sport dominated by the United States of America. With 27 Ryder Cup wins to Europe’s 15, including a 26-year undefeated streak in the competition between 1959 and 1985, and an astonishing 285 Major golf championships between them (second place is Scotland with 55), it’s safe to say that a lot of the best golfers ever are American.

But who is the cream of the crop? National Club Golfer has revealed their list of the best American golfers of all time, and here is who they named as their top 20.

10

Gene Sarazen

Majors: 7

Gene Sarazen played his golf in the 1920s and 1930s, and in that time won seven Majors and completed the career Grand Slam. He won his first Major at 20, and went on to complete the Grand Slam at 33. He is also responsible for one of the most famous golf shots of all time, “the shot heard around the world”, his double eagle on the 15th hole of the 1935 Masters tournament, which he went on to win. Over the course of his career, he won three PGA Championships, two US Opens, one Open Championship and one Masters. He retired from active competition in 1973, and won the Bob Jones award in 1992.

9

Walter Hagen

Majors: 11

Walter Hagen’s Majors tally is only beaten by two people (that we will get to later on in this list). He won the PGA Championship five times, the US Open twice, and the Open Championship four times, becoming the first native-born American to do so in 1922. Hagen turned pro in 1912, and joined the PGA Tour in 1916. He is known by many as the “father of professional golf” because of the publicity that he brought to the sport, and captained the USA six times in the Ryder Cup.

8

Tom Watson

Majors: 8

Tom Watson was one of the best golfers in the world in the 1970s and 1980s, and was named PGA Player of the Year six times over the course of his 44-year career, with his final round coming in 2019. He won five Open Championships, two Masters titles, and one US Open. Watson also won 39 times on the PGA Tour, and received the Bob Jones award in 1987. He also had a legendary rivalry with Jack Nicklaus, who we will get to later on in this list…

7

Byron Nelson

Majors: 5

Byron Nelson played his golf between 1935 and 1946, and is considered one of the greatest of all time. Nelson was the first player to win 50 PGA Tour events, doing so at the Columbus Invitational in 1946, which is an achievement which has only been matched by six other golfers. Nelson’s best year came in 1945, in which he won 18 out of the 30 PGA Tournaments that he played in, including 11 in a row, in what is widely regarded as the best individual year in golf’s history.

6

Sam Snead

Majors: 7

One of Byron Nelson’s main rivals is Sam Snead, who was born just three months after Nelson. The Slammer won seven Majors over the course of his career, with the US Open being the one that escaped him. Snead was the leading money winner three times between 1938 and 1950, and received the PGA Tour Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. He retired from the PGA Tour in 1977 with three Masters, three PGA Championships and, one Open Championship.

5

Ben Hogan

Majors: 9

Ben Hogan turned pro in January 1930, and went on to have a legendary career, winning 63 tournaments between 1938 and 1959, and was known for having the perfect swing. He was the leading money winner five times between 1940 and 1948, and completed one of the greatest seasons in the history of golf in 1953, in which he won three Majors, an achievement which wouldn’t be repeated until 2000. Hogan also fought in World War II, becoming a utility pilot with the rank of lieutenant.

4

Arnold Palmer

Majors: 7

Probably the most charismatic golfer of all time, Arnold Palmer dominated between 1958 and 1964. During this period he won four Masters, two Open Championships, and one US Open. In 1967, he became the first man to earn $1 million on the PGA Tour. He was credited for helping to grow golf internationally, and in 1960 he was named the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year.

3

Bobby Jones

Majors: 13

Bobby Jones helped found the Augusta National in 1933, home of the Masters. He was the first golfer to win the double (the Open and the US Open) and complete the Grand Slam, as he won all four Majors in 1930. He won 13 Majors in seven years between 1923 and 1930. However, he only turned professional in 1930, but still did not intend to earn money through golf tournaments.

2

Jack Nicklaus

Majors: 18

The man with more Majors than any other, Jack Nicklaus is undoubtedly one of the greatest golfers the sport has ever seen. He had a career that lasted over 25 years, winning 117 tournaments in that time, and in 1986, he became the oldest player to ever win the Masters at age 46. He won six Masters, five PGA Championships, four US Opens, and four PGA Championships, winning Majors in three separate decades. He also hit the first ever hole-in-one at the Augusta National at the age of 75 in 2015. Whichever way you slice it, the Golden Bear is one of the undisputed greats of golf. But he’s not number one…

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20 Greatest European Golfers in History [Ranked]

Europe has a whole host of elite golfers, but the 20 best in history have been named, including recent Masters winner Rory McIlroy.

1

Tiger Woods

Majors: 15

The greatest of all time. Tiger Woods has been the face of golf since his first Masters win in 1997, and has won 82 PGA Tour events and 15 Majors ever since. He holds multiple golfing records, including the most PGA Tour wins, and the most consecutive weeks as number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, being number one for 683 weeks. He has been PGA Player of the Year 11 times, PGA Tour Money Leader 10 times, and he is the only golfer to win all four Majors in a row, completing the “Tiger Slam” in 2000-2001. No one has had a monopoly over golf quite like Tiger did in his prime, and we are unlikely to see anything like it ever again.