Monday, June 26, 2006

U.S. Open career-defining for Mickelson

Minutes from matching Tiger Woods' master achievement, Phil Mickelson instead made a case that he's the Arnold Palmer of this generation. His 18th hole meltdown matched the best of Arnie's late-tournament blowups. Palmer is a better comparison than Greg Norman, who had several majors snatched from him by miracle shots.

Still, Mickelson's near miss bumped him up a couple more spots in golf's ultimate playday. Here's the all-time top 72 players in major championship history, according to my rankings.

1st tee
Jack Nicklaus, United States, 1959-1998, 858.59
Tiger Woods, United States, 1994-2006, 625.08
Ben Hogan, United States, 1939-1967, 583.95
Walter Hagen, United States, 1913-1940, 517.29

2nd tee
Arnold Palmer, United States, 1954-1977, 515.33
Tom Watson, United States, 1974-2000, 493.36
Gary Player, South Africa, 1956-1984, 477.43
Bobby Jones, United States, 1919-1930, 477.25

3rd tee
Sam Snead, United States, 1937-1974, 464.41
Gene Sarazen, United States, 1921-1956, 458.63
Nick Faldo, England, 1978-2003, 401.50
Byron Nelson, United States, 1935-1955, 367.54

4th tee
Harry Vardon, England, 1894-1922, 351.50
J.H. Taylor, England, 1893-1925, 348.75
Lee Trevino, United States, 1967-1986, 334.54
Seve Ballesteros, Spain, 1976-1991, 321.08

5th tee
Phil Mickelson, United States, 1990-2006, 317.81
Greg Norman, Australia, 1979-1999, 316.82
Raymond Floyd, United States, 1965-1994, 309.32
James Braid, Scotland, 1894-1914, 301.63

6th tee
Jim Barnes, Eng/U.S., 1913-1930, 301.11
Ernie Els, South Africa, 1992-2004, 285.40
Peter Thomson, Australia, 1951-1971, 277.10
Nick Price, Zimbabwe, 1982-2005, 267.98

7th tee
Jimmy Demaret, United States, 1938-1962, 263.44
Bobby Locke, South Africa, 1936-1957, 259.75
Julius Boros, United States, 1950-1973, 252.92
Cary Middlecoff, United States, 1948-1959, 252.50

8th tee
Craig Wood, United States, 1929-1944, 251.94
Billy Casper, United States, 1958-1976, 251.21
Ben Crenshaw, United States, 1972-1995, 243.52
Hale Irwin, United States, 1973-1993, 243.38

9th tee
Ralph Guldahl, United States, 1933-1941, 237.13
Leo Diegel, United States, 1920-1933, 235.56
Willie Anderson Jr., Scot/U.S., 1898-1908, 223.50
Vijay Singh, Fiji, 1993-2006, 223.00

10th tee
Tom Weiskopf, United States, 1969-1982, 222.43
Lloyd Mangrum, United States, 1940-1956, 221.60
Harold Hilton, England, 1892-1913, 221.50
Johnny Miller, United States, 1966-1985, 221.38

11th tee
Paul Runyan, United States, 1931-1951, 221.13
Denny Shute, United States, 1928-1950, 219.25
Payne Stewart, United States, 1985-1999, 216.50
Henry Cotton, England, 1927-1958, 210.92

12th tee
Jock Hutchison, Scot/U.S., 1908-1928, 210.25
Bernhard Langer, Germany, 1981-2005, 209.58
Ted Ray, England, 1902-1925, 204.88
Tommy Armour, Scot/US, 1925-1937, 202.63

13th tee
Horton Smith, United States, 1928-1954, 198.31
Alex Smith, Scot/US, 1898-1921, 193.69
Henry Picard, United States, 1932-1950, 192.44
Hubert Green, United States, 1974-1989, 190.00

14th tee
Mark O'Meara, United States, 1979-2003, 188.70
Tom Kite, United States, 1970-2001, 187.94
Fred Couples, United States, 1980-2006, 187.70
Lawson Little, United States, 1934-1951, 187.33

15th tee
Jose Maria Olazabul, Spain, 1984-2006, 187.10
Lanny Wadkins, United States, 1970-1993, 185.50
Gene Littler, United States, 1953-1979, 184.00
Davis Love III, United States, 1995-2005, 177.89

16th tee
Jim Ferrier, Aus/U.S., 1936-1964, 176.50
Larry Nelson, United States, 1979-1991, 173.75
Johnny Farrell, United States, 1922-1937, 170.46
Curtis Strange, United States, 1980-1995, 170.17

17th tee
Jack Burke Jr., United States, 1951-1965, 169.95
Harry Cooper, Eng/U.S., 1923-1942, 169.50
Doug Ford, United States, 1955-1962, 168.50
Tommy Bolt, United States, 1952-1971, 166.63

18th tee
Tony Jacklin, England, 1967-1972, 164.50
David Graham, Australia, 1975-1990, 163.70
Sandy Herd, Scotland, 1892-1927, 163.31
Charles Evans Jr., United States, 1909-1927, 162.67

Monday, June 12, 2006

Who's the greatest woman golfer ever?

When discussing the greatest female golfer ever, it seems as if Annika Sorenstam has created a title-wave of support for the title. Using the same system I used to rank the greatest male golfers, I've only got Annika at No. 2. And my ranking is incomplete. I've been unable to find top 10 results for women's majors before 1963 so great players of the 30s, 40s and 50s such as Patty Berg and Mickey Wright are undervalued. They received points for the majors they won but no points for the numerous seconds, thirds, etc.

Also, Annika hasn't clearly established herself as the greatest player of this generation as you'll see by the list below.

In my system, you receive 20 points for winning a major and a bonus point for every stroke ahead. You add up the best year, best three years, best five years, best 10 and career, add that again to the career total and divide by two. This weights the ranking in favor of the dominant golfer rather than the one who gathered points over a long career.

Here are the 54 (18 holes of threesomes) greatest female golfers.

Rank, player, years, points
1. Mickey Wright, 1958-1973, 575.40
2. Annika Sorenstam, 1995-2006, 523.37
3. Karrie Webb 1996-2006, 469.50
4. Pat Bradley, 1977-1996, 460.93
5. Kathy Whitworth, 1963-1984, 453.10
6. Julie Inkster, 1984-2005, 449.30
7. Patty Berg, 1937-1965, 441.50
8. Patty Sheehan, 1981-1997, 400.62
9. Louise Suggs, 1946-1969, 377.64
10. Amy Alcott, 1976-1994, 358.22
11. Sandra Haynie, 1963-1983, 353.00
12. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, 1940-1954, 350.00
13. Betsy Rawls, 1951-1969, 329.09
14. JoAnne Carner, 1970-1992, 321.85
15. Meg Mallon, 1990-2004, 321.63
16. Laura Davies, 1987-2005, 303.42
17. Nancy Lopez, 1975-1997, 298.88
18. Donna Caponi, 1969-1982, 266.85
19. Beth Daniel, 1980-2005, 264.05
20. Se Ri Pak, 1998-2003, 244.95
21. Susan Maxwell Berning, 1965-1979, 242.50
22. Mary Mills, 1963-1974, 232.45
23. Clifford-Ann Creed, 1963-1976, 230.20
24. Carol Mann, 1963-1975, 226.50
25. Dottie Pepper, 1988-2001, 221.25
26. Sandra Palmer, 1967-1986, 220.00
27. Jan Stephenson, 1976-2000, 216.25
28. Marilyn Smith, 1963-1972, 211.45
29. Hollis Stacy, 1976-1996, 207.51
30. Sally Little, 1975-1988, 205.47
31. Ayako Okamoto, 1983-1993, 204.93
32. Rosie Jones, 1983-2005, 200.53
33. Liselotte Neumann, 1988-2005, 198.45
34. Jane Geddes, 1985-1996, 178.30
35. Tammie Green, 1989-1998, 173.10
36. Kelly Robbins, 1994-2004, 158.80
37. Brandie Burton, 1991-2001, 151.00
38. Grace Park, 1999-2005, 136.60
39. Jane Blalock, 1971-1980, 132.00
40. Judy Rankin, 1964-1979, 130.58
41. Judy Kimball-Simon, 1962-1967, 130.38
42. Beverly Hanson, 1955-1958, 130.00
43. Betty Jameson, 1942-1954, 130.00
44. Shirley Englehorn, 1963-1970, 124.25
45. Chris Johnson, 1983-2000, 122.50
46. Marlene Hagge, 1956-1972, 122.00
47. Nancy Scranton, 1986-2000, 120.50
48. Donna Andrews, 1992-1998, 116.93
49. Helen Alfreddson, 1992-2006, 116.83
50. Colleen Walker, 1987-1997, 116.80
51. Ruth Jessen, 1963-1974, 113.25
52. Sheri Turner, 1986-1999, 111.97
53. Alice Miller, 1976-1985, 109.75
54. Jody Anschutz, 1986-1991, 109.50

Nadal's win earns him entry into ultimate tennis tournament

Rafael Nadal's second straight French Open title moved him into the top 32 in the ultimate tennis tournament. Nadal earned 10 points for the win, two points for the 3-1 set victory and 3.5 bonus points -- .5 for each of Roger Federer's seven major victories.

Federer, even though he fell short of four straight major titles, continued his speedy climb up the list, passing Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.


Rank, Player, Country, Years, Total
1. Pete Sampras, United States, 1990-2002, 656.50
2. Bjorn Borg, Sweden, 1974-1981, 648.50
3. Ivan Lendl, Czechoslovakia, 1981-1991, 619.50
4. Jimmy Connors, United States, 1974-1984, 597.00
5. John McEnroe, United States, 1979-1985, 558.00
6. Mats Wilander, Sweden, 1982-1988, 472.50
7. Andre Agassi, United States, 1990-2005, 470.00
8. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 2003-2006, 431.50
9. Boris Becker, Germany, 1985-1996, 423.50
10. Stephan Edberg, Sweden, 1985-1993, 409.00
11. Rod Laver, Australia, 1968-1971, 355.50
12. Jim Courier, United States, 1991-1993, 334.50
13. Guillermo Vilas, Argentina, 1975-1982, 323.00
14. John Newcombe, Australia, 1968-1976, 323.00
15. Ken Rosewall, Australia, 1968-1974, 295.50
16. Jan Kodes, Czechoslovakia, 1970-1973, 228.00
17. Arthur Ashe, United States, 1968-1975, 214.50
18. Illie Nastase, Romania, 1971-1976, 197.00
19. Lleyton Hewitt, Australia, 2001-2005, 192.50
20. Marat Safin, Russia, 2000-2005, 191.00

21. Gustavo Kuerten, Brazil, 1997-2001, 166.00
22. Stan Smith, United States, 1968-1980, 156.50
23. Pat Rafter, Australia, 1997-2001, 155.50
24. Yevgeny Kafelinikov, Russia, 1996-2000, 145.00
25. Pat Cash, Australia, 1987-1988, 141.00
26. Michael Chang, United States, 1989-1996, 134.00
27. Sergei Bruguera, Spain, 1993-1997, 133.00
28. Goran Ivanisevic, Croatia, 1992-2001, 131.00
29. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 2005-2006, 125.50
30. Michael Stich, Germany, 1991-1996, 121.50
31. Johan Kriek, South Africa, 1981-1982, 113.00
32. Andy Roddick, United States, 2003-2005, 111.50

Henin-Hardenne closes in on Davenport

Justine Henin-Hardenne is closing in on Lyndsay Davenport after scoring her fifth major championship at the French Open. The player she beat, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, winner of the 2004 U.S. Open, moved into the top 32 by finishing second.

Here is my list of the 32 greatest women's tennis players of the open era.


Player, Country, Years, Points
1. Martina Navratilova, Czechoslovakia, 1974-2003, 1308.00
2. Steffi Graf, Germany, 1987-1999, 1215.50
3. Chris Evert-Lloyd, United States, 1973-1988, 953.50
4. Monica Seles, Yugoslavia, 1990-1998, 684.00
5. Margaret Smith-Court, Australia, 1968-1975, 675.00
6. Billie Jean King, United States, 1968-1979, 650.50
7. Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Australia, 1971-1980, 579.50
8. Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario, Spain, 1989-1998, 468.50
9. Serena Williams, United States, 1999-2005, 457.50
10. Martina Hingis, Switzerland, 1996-2006, 444.50
11. Venus Williams, United States, 1997-2005, 408.50
12. Hana Mandlikova, Czechoslovakia, 1980-1987, 334.00
13. Lindsay Davenport, United States, 1998-2005, 312.00
14. Justine Henin-Hardenne, Belgium, 2001-2006, 282.50
15. Virginia Wade, England, 1968-1977, 197.00
16. Mary Pierce, France, 1994-2005, 194.00
17. Tracy Austin, United States, 1979-1981, 186.50
18. Jennifer Capriati, United States, 2001-2002, 184.00
19. Gabriela Sabatini, Argentina, 1988-1991, 165.00
20. Kim Clijsters, Belgium, 2001-2005, 151.00
21. Jana Novotna, Czechoslovakia, 1991-1998, 150.00
22. Ann Haydon-Jones, England, 1968-1969, 141.00
23. Conchita Martinez, Spain, 1994-2000, 140.00
24. Virginia Ruzici, Romania, 1978-1980, 107.50
25. Kerry Melville-Reid, Australia, 1970-1977, 103.00
26. Mimi Jausovec, Yugoslavia, 1977-1983, 97.00
27. Helena Sukova, Czechoslovakia, 1984-1993, 94.50
28. Amelie Mauresmo, France, 1999-2006, 92.50
29. Christine O'Neill, Australia, 1978, 85.00
30. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 2004-2006, 82.00
31. Wendy Turnbill, United States, 1977-1980, 80.00
32. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 2004, 77.50