Tiger sets bar higher

Although Tiger Woods still chases Jack Nicklaus' records of 18 professional major titles and 20 majors if you count the two U.S. Amateurs, Tiger surpassed Nicklaus last year in my ranking of the greatest golfers ever.

My system is tilted toward dominance and Tiger already has had three of the 10 greatest seasons in history.

So Tiger's latest win -- the U.S. Open in a playoff over Rocco Mediate -- does nothing more than up the score needed by some golfer in the future.

What I found interesting is that the old guard that battled Tiger in the past -- Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson -- no longer seems to be improving. And I'm a Mickelson fan, but it seems his career peaked on the 17th hole at Wing Foot two years ago. It'll have to be a new generation -- the Geoff Ogilvys of the world -- to raise their level of play to take on Tiger.

So there was very, very little movement in my all-time ranking of the 72 greatest golfers:

Rank, player, country, years, points
1. Tiger Woods, United States, 1994-2008, 182.01
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