The 50 Greatest?

[ditchparrot19]

Not long after I started playing golf in the late 1980s, my sister got me a coffee table book called "The Fifty Greatest Golfers." It was published in 1985 and the selections were made by Peter Alliss, Arnold Palmer, Mark McCormack and the writer Peter Dobereiner. It was limited to post-World War II players.

In alphabetical order, here are the guys who made the grade back then:

Isao Aoki, Sevi Ballesteros, Tommy Bolt, Michael Bonallack, Julius Boros, Jack Burke, Billy Casper, Bob Charles, Neil Coles, Henry Cotton, Ben Crenshaw, Jimmy Demaret, Nick Faldo, Dow Finsterwald, Raymond Floyd, Doug Ford, David Graham, Harold Henning, Ben Hogan, Hale Irwin, Tony Jacklin, Don January, Tony Lema, Gene Littler, Bobby Locke, Lloyd Mangrum, Graham Marsh, Cary Middlecoff, Johnny Miller, Kel Nagle, Byron Nelson, Larry Nelson, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Christy O'Connor, Arnold Palmer, Jerry Pate, Gary Player, Dai Rees, Doug Sanders, Sam Snead, Peter Thomson, Lee Trevino, Roberto De Vicenzo, Lanny Wadkins, Art Wall, Harvie Ward, Tom Watson, Tom Weiskopf and Fuzzy Zoeller.

Thirty years have passed since the book's publication. Which players who arrived on the scene since that time would make the list today? Who would they supplant?

Woods, Mickelson and McIlroy would definitely be added, but who else? Ernie Els? Nick Price? Payne Stewart? Bubba Watson?

For my money, Aoki, Charles, Graham, January, Pate, Sanders and Zoeller would be the prime candidates for ouster. I'm not sure about a lot of the guys whose primes preceded my birth (1964).

What do you all think?

[Chilli Dipper]

I would take it even further than that. There are fewer golfers on that roster that I would lock into an updated list than golfers I would need to make a closer look at.

Pre-1990s players still locked into top-50 list

Ballesteros

Casper

Demaret

Faldo

Floyd

Hogan

Jacklin

Lema

Locke

Middlecoff

Byron Nelson

Nicklaus

Norman

Palmer

Player

Snead

Thomson

Trevino

de Vicenzo

Tom Watson

Post-1990s golfers who would be top-50 locks

Els

McIlroy

MIckelson

Singh

Woods

Post-1990s players in top-50 consideration

Couples

Daly

Furyk

Garcia

Goosen

Harrington

Kaymer

Kite

Langer

Love

Montgomerie

Olazabal

O'Meara

Jumbo Ozaki

Price

Scott

Stewart

Westwood

Woosnam

At the end of the day, there are a lot of judgment calls on there.

[ChrisP]

Depends on how big you take majors into account. Guys like Colin Montgomerie, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia have great resumes, but lack majors. I think you have to take a look at some multiple major winners that have also had success outside of majors, such as Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Mark O'Meara, Nick Price and Payne Stewart. Of course, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson are slam dunks to be on that list.

If you could add 15 guys since 1990, I'd add Woods, McIlroy, Mickelson, Singh, Els, Goosen, Price, Stewart, Langer, Couples, Kite, Olazabal, Furyk, Harrington, and O'Meara. In 10 years, though, I think you'll be adding Scott, Rose, Kaymer, and possibly Zach Johnson and Graeme McDowell on that list if they can crack another major or two.

[dbuck]

Golf Digest did a top 50 list in 2000 that is not too far off from what has been posted so far, except they mingled male and female which is not the fairest way to go about it. Of course, there would be some shuffling of the order since 2000, but the names wouldn't change much except a couple of additions like McIlroy. Changing to male and female only would open up a few spots.

I believe that Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and Harry Vardon still belong on any such list.