For those of you who somehow found this blog in 2006 or 2007, you'll remember Tiger Woods had a ways to go to catch Jack Nicklaus as the greatest golfer of all time.
At least in my old system.
This winter I decided to standardize my rankings among the various sports. I was using a mix of ways to decide the greatest athletes and the one for golf -- which was the first system I finished -- was tilted toward longevity instead of dominance.
I had one year, three year, five year, 10 year and career point totals added up, then added the career totals again and divided by two. That meant a players career total ended up being worth 60 percent of the final ranking.
That of course tilted my list Jack's way, since he still has more major victories and a lot more second place finishes than Woods.
But if you look at the 10 greatest seasons in major championship golf history, Tiger has accomplished three of them:
1. 2000 -- Woods earned 91 points in my system, winning the U.S. Open by 15 shots, the British by eight and the PGA in a playoff. He set scoring records in each tournament.
2. 1953 -- Ben Hogan, won all three majors he played in.
3. 1930 -- Bobby Jones, the original Grand Slam.
4. 2005 -- Tiger Woods, winning the Masters and British Open, second at the U.S. Open and fourth at the PGA.
5. 1980 -- Jack Nicklaus, won the U.S. Open and PGA championship.
6. 1962 -- Arnold Palmer, won the Masters and British Open.
7. 1960 -- Arnold Palmer, won the Masters and rallied from seven back to win the U.S. Open.
8. 1972 -- Jack Nicklaus, opens the year winning the Masters and U.S. Open but then is edged by Lee Trevino in the British.
9. 2002 -- Tiger Woods, won the Masters and British Open and loses by a shot to Rich Beem in the PGA.
10. 1948 -- Ben Hogan, won the U.S. Open and PGA championship.
If you look at dominance, even Nicklaus remarked in 2000 that he was never as good as Woods at his very peak.
After changing my rankings to a combined total of the best three year, six year, 10 year and career scores -- similar to all of my other rankings other than boxing -- then Tiger passed Nicklaus last year and just continues to build on his lead.
In fact, there was no movement in my new all-time golf tournament. Mickelson is one more top 10 finish away from passing Seve Ballesteros, otherwise from now on it's Tiger everyone is chasing.
Here's my new top 72 golfers after the Masters -- oh and congratulations Trevor Immelman, who has the potential to make this field in the next few years:
Rank, player, country, years, points
1. Tiger Woods, United States, 1994-2008, 179.44
2. Jack Nicklaus, United States, 1959-1998, 178.61
3. Ben Hogan, United States, 1939-1967, 145.30
4. Arnold Palmer, United States, 1954-1977, 127.39
5. Bobby Jones, United States, 1919-1930, 122.57
6. Tom Watson, United States, 1974-2000, 118.94
7. Walter Hagen, United States, 1913-1940, 118.49
8. Gene Sarazen, United States, 1921-1956, 108.67
9. Gary Player, South Africa, 1956-1984, 108.41
10. Sam Snead, United States, 1937-1974, 103.41
11. Nick Faldo, England, 1978-2003, 101.33
12. Byron Nelson, United States, 1935-1955, 90.94
13. Lee Trevino, United States, 1967-1986, 82.67
14. J.H. Taylor, England, 1893-1925, 81.90
15. Harry Vardon, England, 1894-1922, 81.47
16. Seve Ballesteros, Spain, 1976-1991, 79.46
17. Phil Mickelson, United States, 1990-2008, 79.35
18. Jim Barnes, Eng/U.S., 1913-1930, 77.25
19. Greg Norman, Australia, 1979-1999, 77.23
20. Raymond Floyd, United States, 1965-1994, 75.77
21. Ernie Els, South Africa, 1992-2007, 72.92
22. James Braid, Scotland, 1894-1914, 71.88
23. Nick Price, Zimbabwe, 1982-2005, 69.27
24. Peter Thomson, Australia, 1951-1971, 67.91
25. Jimmy Demaret, United States, 1938-1962, 66.93
26. Cary Middlecoff, United States, 1948-1959, 66.40
27. Ralph Guldahl, United States, 1933-1941, 65.57
28. Bobby Locke, South Africa, 1936-1957, 65.24
29. Craig Wood, United States, 1929-1944, 64.70
30. Hale Irwin, United States, 1973-1993, 63.05
31. Julius Boros, United States, 1950-1973, 62.58
32. Billy Casper, United States, 1958-1976, 60.90
33. Leo Diegel, United States, 1920-1933, 60.81
34. Johnny Miller, United States, 1966-1985, 58.53
35. Ben Crenshaw, United States, 1972-1995, 58.13
36. Harold Hilton, England, 1892-1913, 57.08
37. Paul Runyan, United States, 1931-1951, 57.08
38. Vijay Singh, Fiji, 1993-2006, 56.74
39. Tom Weiskopf, United States, 1969-1982, 55.53
40. Henry Cotton, England, 1927-1958, 55.48
41. Denny Shute, United States, 1928-1950, 55.30
42. Payne Stewart, United States, 1985-1999, 55.07
43. Jock Hutchison, Scot/U.S., 1908-1928, 54.47
44. Bernhard Langer, Germany, 1981-2005, 54.19
45. Ted Ray, England, 1902-1925, 53.91
46. Lloyd Mangrum, United States, 1940-1956, 53.05
47. Horton Smith, United States, 1928-1954, 51.87
48. Henry Picard, United States, 1932-1950, 51.85
49. Hubert Green, United States, 1974-1989, 51.18
50. Lawson Little, United States, 1934-1951, 50.84
51. Mark O'Meara, United States, 1979-2003, 48.08
52. Alex Smith, Scot/US, 1898-1921, 48.03
53. Larry Nelson, United States, 1979-1991, 47.75
54. Jose Maria Olazabul, Spain, 1984-2006, 47.67
55. Jim Furyk, United States, 1996-2007, 47.03
56. Fred Couples, United States, 1980-2006, 45.63
57. Doug Ford, United States, 1955-1962, 44.72
58. Davis Love III, United States, 1995-2005, 44.67
59. Gene Littler, United States, 1953-1979, 44.65
60. Retief Goosen, South Africa, 1997-2007, 44.48
61. Tony Jacklin, England, 1967-1972, 44.42
62. Lanny Wadkins, United States, 1970-1993, 44.35
63. Curtis Strange, United States, 1980-1995, 44.32
64. Jim Ferrier, Aus/U.S., 1936-1964, 43.97
65. Johnny Farrell, United States, 1922-1937, 43.71
66. Harry Cooper, Eng/U.S., 1923-1942, 43.71
67. Jack Burke Jr., United States, 1951-1965, 43.34
68. Tommy Bolt, United States, 1952-1971, 42.83
69. Tom Kite, United States, 1970-2001, 42.83
70. David Graham, Australia, 1975-1990, 42.66
71. Charles Evans Jr., United States, 1909-1927, 42.13
72. Jerry Pate, United States, 1974-1982, 40.69
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