1. Jack Nicklaus
Jack Nicklaus sets the “gold” standard when it comes to golf. With 18 professional majors, 73 PGA Tour victories, 10 Champions Tour trophies and 115 worldwide victories, Nicklaus is the best to have ever played the game. He has won the career grand slam three times. He won six Masters, five PGAs, four U.S. Opens and three British Opens.
Describing Nicklaus career in a few paragraphs is difficult, but there are some surprises. For example, Nicklaus never won more than two majors in a season. However, he won two majors in five different years. The only time he went longer than three years without winning a major was between his 17th, which was the 1980 PGA, and the 18th, which was the 1986 Masters.
Nicklaus’s biggest victory margin was nine strokes in the 1965 Masters when he beat both Arnold Palmer and Gary Player.
He had three winning major playoffs: The 1962 U.S. Open against Arnold Palmer, the 1966 Masters against Gay Brewer and Tommy Jacobs and the 1970 British Open against Doug Sanders.
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In 164 majors, he was first 18 times, second 19 times and third nine times.
Nicklaus was leading money winner in eight seasons, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976. He was Player of the Year five times, in 1967, 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976.
He received the Congressional Gold Medal in 2015. Until someone breaks his record, he remains the Best Golfer in History.