Over the last 150 years many greats of the sport of golf have emerged.
The top professional has gone from second-class citizen, scratching a living through exhibitions and irregular tournaments, to global superstar competing for huge prizes across the world.
Here, in chronological order, we profile a selection of the very finest golfers in the history of our great game.
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Old and Young Tom Morris
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The story of the Morrises of St Andrews is one of triumph and tragedy.
Old Tom, the bearded “Grand Old Man” of golf, learned his trade from legendary caddy and ball-maker Allan Robertson, and went on to win four of the first eight Open Championships.
In 1862 he won by 13 strokes: a margin that’s never been equalled.
Young Tom was even more talented on the links than his dad. He won his first Open in 1868 aged 17 and went on to win the following three. But his full potential was never realised.
He died tragically of a pulmonary haemorrhage aged just 24, only three months after his wife and newborn son had died in childbirth.
Harry Vardon
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Born on the Channel Island of Jersey, Harry Vardon is the only man to have won The Open Championship on six occasions.
One of Vardon’s greatest contributions to golf was his invention of a revolutionary technique – “The Vardon Grip”. In this, the little finger of the right hand overlaps the index finger of the left to give greater control. It became, and still is, a staple of golf instruction.
On course, Vardon was a majestic player with an un-matched ability to manipulate the ball. He was also a hugely determined character. In 1903 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis but beat it and went on to claim two further Major titles beyond the age of 40.
James Braid
A tough lie for James Braid
James Braid was a rangy Scottish powerhouse who once held the world record for longest drive at 395 yards.
Braid was a dominant force in British competitive golf through the first decade of the 20th Century. In those 10 years he won five Open Championships. Over six feet tall he was famed for his ability to hit the ball prodigious distances and escape from seemingly impenetrable rough.
The Scot deserves his inclusion in this list of greats not just for his playing prowess but also for his skill as a golf course designer. He was responsible for the layout or remodelling of over 200 golf courses including the Kings and Queens at Gleneagles.
Joyce Wethered
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Joyce Wethered was a supremely talented golfer who went on to become Lady Heathcoat-Amory and a renowned gardener.
Wethered arrived for the English Ladies’ Championship as an unknown 18-year-old, but she won the event by beating the favourite Cecil Leitch in the final.
The Englishwoman won the British Women’s Amateur four times, lastly in 1929 at St Andrews when she toppled leading US lady amateur Glenna Collett in a thrilling final.
Wethered married Sir John Heathcoat-Armory in 1937 and she acquired a great skill for gardening at the Heathcoat-Armory’s family home of Knightshayes Court in Devon.
For her botanical accomplishments she was awarded the Victoria Medal of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society.
Walter Hagen
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A great showman, Walter Hagen was responsible for elevating the status of the professional golfer.
When Hagen first travelled to Britain for the 1920 Open at Royal Cinque Ports he was astonished not to be allowed into the clubhouse. To make a point “The Haig” had his chauffeur park his Daimler directly outside the front door and he changed his shoes there.
He was a friend of the Prince of Wales; he dined at The Savoy and generally lived a more flamboyant lifestyle than any golf professional had before.
And he backed up the bravado on course – he won 11 Major titles and 45 PGA Tour events between 1914 and 1936.
Gene Sarazen
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A tenacious competitor, Gene Sarazen is one of only five men to have won all four professional Major titles.
Sarazen was born Eugne Saraceni but changed his name as he felt it sounded like that of a violin player.
He was a constant presence in the world of golf through the 20th century after he emerged on the scene as a 20-year-old and won the 1922 U.S. Open.
He won six more Majors including the 1935 Masters where he hit “the shot heard round the world” – a holed 4-wood for an albatross two on the 15th hole of the final round.
One of his greatest contributions to the game was his invention of the modern sand-wedge.
Bobby Jones
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Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones was the finest amateur golfer ever to swing a club and he left a lasting impression on the game.
Bobby Jones’ famous “Grand Slam” of 1930 when he won the U.S. and British Amateurs as well as the U.S. and British Opens will surely never be replicated. He was an elegant player with an innate ability to win.
Jones was a great man as well as a great champion golfer. He retired from competitive golf at the age of 28 and went on to co-found Augusta National and The Masters. He set the benchmarks for sportsmanship and integrity – the cornerstones of the sport of golf.
Byron Nelson
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For a short period in the mid 1940s Byron Nelson was all but unbeatable on the golf course.
When he retired from competitive golf in 1946 at the age of just 34, Byron Nelson had set golfing records that will probably never be broken.
In the 1945 season the Texan won 18 times, including 11 tournaments consecutively.
Nelson was a tall and powerful man, considered by many to be the father of the modern golf swing. He stood more upright than his contemporaries, completed a full shoulder turn and engaged the larger muscles of the torso and legs to generate power.
Sam Snead
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Samuel Jackson Snead was blessed with an awesome golf game and an enduring will to succeed.
In a career spanning six decades, Snead collected 82 PGA Tour victories (more than any other player,) seven Major titles and over 160 professional wins.
Snead kept himself extremely physically fit and enjoyed great career longevity as a result. Aged 67 he matched his age twice in the 1979 Quad Cities Open, posting rounds of 66 and 67, en-route to finishing the tournament at seven-under-par.
He continued to play golf as long as his legs would carry him around the course and was honorary starter at The Masters from 1984 to 2002.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
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One of the greatest athletes of all time, Zaharias excelled in whatever sport she turned her hand to.
At High School, Zaharias was a natural at swimming, tennis, basketball and athletics. In the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932 she won gold in the javelin and the 80 metres hurdles.
Zaharias didn’t play golf until she was 21, but within three years she was the women’s amateur champion of Texas.
She won four Major titles as an amateur before turning professional in 1947. She regularly competed against the men and made three cuts on the PGA Tour. She died of cancer aged just 42.
Sir Henry Cotton
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Cotton was a supremely stylish golfer who revived British golfing fortunes with Open victories either side of World War II.
Henry Cotton was a true English gentleman who displayed exemplary professionalism both on and off the course.
He announced himself on the world stage with victory in the 1934 Open Championship at Sandwich. Starting with incredible rounds of 67 and 65 he built an insurmountable lead. His round of 65 went down in legend and was the inspiration for the iconic “Dunlop 65” golf ball.
Cotton won two more Opens and twice captained the British Ryder Cup team. He was conferred with a knighthood one week after his death.
Ben Hogan
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The sweet-swinging Texan came back from a near fatal car crash to win six more Major Championships.
When the car he and his wife were travelling in collided head-on with a Greyhound bus in February 1949, Ben Hogan was already a three-time Major champion.
Suffering multiple fractures, doctors feared “The Hawk” might never walk again. But, Hogan was made of stern stuff – 18 months later he was U.S. Open Champion for a second time.
Widely regarded as the best ball striker of all time, Hogan’s landmark book, “Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf,” is a bible for all students of the golf swing.
Bobby Locke
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Many experts, including his countryman Gary Player, believe Bobby Locke to have been the best putter ever to play the game of golf.
Born in Germiston South Africa, Arthur D’Arcy Locke was given the nickname Bobby after the legendary amateur Bobby Jones. From an early age he displayed a talent to justify the moniker.
Locke won the 1935 South African Amateur and South African Open at the age of just 18.
Wielding a trusted old hickory-shafted putter, he was simply incredible on the greens and his skills with the flat-stick brought him four Open Championships between 1949 and 1957. In total he won 72 tournaments as a professional.
Patty Berg
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Hailing form Minneapolis, Minnesota, Berg was a great promoter and teacher of golf as well as a superb competitor.
Patty Berg won the first U.S. Women’s Open in 1946, plus 14 further recognised women’s Major Championships.
No woman has won more. She claimed a total of 60 professional events in a career spanning 40 years and was the LPGA’s first president from 1950-52.
Berg was known as one of the game’s great shotmakers, possessing incredible control over her swing. And she was generous with her knowledge of the sport.
A few years before her death in 2006, she estimated she’d conducted more than 10,000 clinics, all around the world.
Roberto De Vicenzo
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Roberto De Vicenzo won over 230 professional tournaments during a career that spanned eight decades, but the Argentine will always be remembered for a tournament he lost.
In the last round of the 1968 Masters, De Vicenzo signed for a score one higher than he had posted and he missed a playoff by a single stroke.
De Vicenzo’s golfing commitment and perseverance was confirmed by the fact his greatest achievement came almost 30 years into his professional career, when, at the age of 44, he won The Open Championship at Hoylake.
De Vicenzo was a trailblazer for Argentinian golf and his global successes inspired the likes of Vicente Fernandez, Eduardo Romero and Angel Cabrera.
Peter Thomson
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Peter Thomson was one of the great exponents of links golf. Nobody has a better record in The Open Championship.
Between 1951 and 1973, Peter Thomson made 23 consecutive cuts in The Open Championship.
In that time he recorded 18 top-10 finishes and five victories including three in a row from 1954 to 1956. He won 81 tournaments between 1947 and 1988.
The Australian was self-taught with a wonderfully uncomplicated style. He was also renowned for his ability to soak up pressure.
Thomson was the inspiration for a generation of Australian golfers. He helped establish professional tours in Asia and was a successful course designer and writer.
Arnold Palmer
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A hugely influential golfer, Arnold Palmer inspired a new generation of players and rekindled American interest in The Open Championship.
Palmer was golf’s representative in the Rock & Roll era. Handsome, swashbuckling and charismatic, “The King” was cool and, as such, he acquired a legion of fans dubbed “Arnie’s Army.”
He played with aggressive flair, booming huge drives and pulling off audacious escapes. His uncompromising style brought him 62 PGA Tour victories, including seven Majors.
Palmer’s back-to-back British Open wins in 1961 and 62 were instrumental in encouraging pros from the USA to travel to the UK again to do battle for The Claret Jug.
Mickey Wright
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From 1961 to 1964 Mickey Wright won 44 tournaments on the LPGA Tour. For a short time she was untouchable on the women’s circuit.
The great Ben Hogan described Mickey Wright’s swing as the best he ever saw and it helped her to dominate women’s golf in the early 1960s. In total she won 82 LPGA Tour events, including 13 Majors.
It’s fair to assume she would have collected many more had she not stepped back from competitive golf in 1969 at the age of 34.
Wright was LPGA President from 1963-64 and she was a significant force in the promotion of women’s professional golf.
Gary Player
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Perhaps no golfer in the history of the sport has possessed a greater will to win than diminutive South African Gary Player.
Player may be only 5 feet 7 inches tall, but his physical fitness and strength has been second to none throughout his career. He’s a tenacious competitor and a prolific champion. “The Black Knight” won an incredible 165 tournament titles between 1955 and 2010.
He’s one of only six players to have won all four professional Majors, completing the career “Grand Slam.”
Player has been a fine ambassador for golf over the last 60 years. He’s racked up more than 15 million miles travelling the world as a player, course designer and businessman.
Kathy Whitworth
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With 88 victories, Kathy Whitworth has won more LPGA Tour events than any other player.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Whitworth was an unstoppable force in women’s golf. Between 1965 and 1973, she was the LPGA Tour’s leading money winner eight times. She won at least one event on the circuit every year from 1962 to 1978.
Whitworth didn’t possess a classic game but she was a hugely determined competitor with a winner’s instinct.
Later in her career, Whitworth served as the LPGA’s President and, in 1990 she was captain of the victorious U.S. team in the inaugural Solheim Cup.
Lee Trevino
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A tenacious and determined competitor, Lee Trevino squeezed everything out of his game to win six Major Championships.
Trevino’s will to win and formidable gamesmanship were established in his early career when he would often play in head-to-head matches for money he didn’t have.
He became one of the toughest competitors in the sport and he enjoyed considerable success on the PGA Tour from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, winning 29 events.
“Super Mex,” as he’s known, is a creative player with a great imagination around the greens. He’s always played with a smile on his face and, as such, has been a firm favourite with the spectators.
Jack Nicklaus
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With regards golf’s biggest events, Jack Nicklaus “The Golden Bear” is the greatest of them all.
Nicklaus’ first Major triumph came when he was a fresh-faced 22-year-old at the 1962 U.S. Open; his last was achieved as a stout 46-year-old at the 1986 Masters. Jack’s success spanned the generations.
But it’s not just those victories that place Jack above the rest. He finished in the top-10 in 55 further Majors, during the 1970s he placed inside the top-10 in 35 of the 40 Majors contested.
As a course-designer, a businessman and a custodian of the sport, “The Golden Bear” has represented golf proudly and flawlessly.
Ray Floyd
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Four-time major champion Raymond Floyd is one of the steeliest competitors ever to wield a golf club.
Floyd turned professional in 1961 and enjoyed success over an extended period. He won his first PGA Tour event in 1963 and his last 29 years later in 1992.
Together with Sam Snead, he’s the only player to win PGA Tour titles in four separate decades. In 1993 at the age of 51, he became the oldest player to compete in The Ryder Cup.
The American is renowned for his mental toughness and deadly short game. It could be argued that he has been the best chipper of the golf ball in the history of the game.
Tony Jacklin
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England’s Tony Jacklin twice played a pivotal role in revitalising the fortunes of European golf – as a player then as Ryder Cup captain.
Jacklin’s victory in The Open Championship of 1969 at Lytham sparked a golfing revival in the UK and youngsters across the country were inspired to take up the game.
The Englishman was riding the crest of a wave and reached new heights the following year, demolishing the field to win the U.S. Open at Hazeltine by seven shots – the first British U.S. Open winner since Ted Ray in 1920.
Jacklin captained Europe to Ryder Cup victory at The Belfry in 1985. It was the first time the Americans had been beaten since 1957.
Hale Irwin
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A superb athlete, Hale Irwin has won tournaments on every continent through a professional career spanning five decades.
As a teenager and young adult, Hale Irwin excelled in a number of sports, including American football and baseball. But he chose to focus on golf and enjoyed tremendous success over a long spell at the top of the game.
He won 20 PGA Tour events between 1971 and 1994, including three U.S. Opens and he continued to excel when he entered the senior ranks.
With 45 titles and over $26 million in total earnings after his 50th birthday, Irwin leads the Champions Tour all time victories list.
Johnny Miller
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For a brief period in the mid 1970s, Johnny Miller reached a level of golfing brilliance seldom seen before or since.
Six off the pace going into the final round of the 1973 U.S. Open, Miller fired one of the great rounds in Major history, an eight-under-par 63, to win the tournament by a single shot.
In 1974 Miller won eight tournaments on the PGA Tour, topping the money list with ease. In 1975, he successfully defended his title at the Phoenix Open, winning by an incredible 14 shots.
The following week he shot a 61 in the final round of the Tucson Open to defend that title by nine. “It was sort of golfing nirvana,” Miller said.
Tom Watson
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Through a 45-year career, Tom Watson has proved himself the complete golfer with an imperious long-game and deadly short-game.
In the 2009 British Open at Turnberry, a 59-year-old Tom Watson missed a putt on the final green for what would have been one of the most remarkable victories in the history of all sport.
Had he made it, he would have become the oldest Major champion and would have joined Harry Vardon as the only six-time winners of The Open Championship.
Watson has won eight Majors and a total of 71 tournaments as a professional. The first of those 71 triumphs came in 1974, the last 37 years later in 2011.
Greg Norman
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Only Tiger Woods has spent longer at Number 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking than “The Great White Shark.”
Greg Norman was the dominant player in men’s professional golf through much of the late 1980s and early 90s, spending 331 weeks at the top of the World Rankings.
But, like all regular golfers, he had to cope with his share of disappointments along the way. Although he won two Open Championships, he’s often remembered for his historic defeats – he’s the only golfer to have lost playoffs in all four of The Majors.
At his best though, Norman was mesmerising: a fabulous striker and tremendous driver of the golf ball. He won 87 tournaments between 1976 and 2001.
Nancy Lopez
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Nancy Lopez reignited the American public’s interest in women’s professional golf.
After enjoying success as an amateur, Lopez burst onto the professional scene in 1978 as an ambitious 21-year-old. She won nine tournaments in her first full season on the LPGA Tour, five of them consecutively.
She then won eight tournaments in her second year on the circuit. She won 31 further LPGA Tour events between 1980 and 1997.
Lopez was an inspiration to a new generation of female golfers in the USA and she has always been a great representative for the sport. She was captain of the victorious U.S. Solheim Cup team of 2005.
Seve Ballesteros
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The swashbuckling Spaniard captured the imagination and the hearts of golf fans across the world.
Seve Ballesteros revitalised European golf and provided the vanguard of the continent’s return to the pinnacle of the professional game. His cavalier playing style entranced fans as Arnold Palmer’s had in the 1960s. Audacious escapes, improbable birdies and romantic victories made Seve one of the best-loved golfers in history.
The image of him fist-pumping like a triumphant matador on the 18th green at St Andrews after holing the winning putt in the 1984 Open Championship is one of the most iconic in golf.
In 2011, Seve sadly lost his courageous battle to survive a brain tumour.
Payne Stewart
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One of golf’s great characters, Payne Stewart played the game with elegance and panache.
Payne Stewart will be remembered not only for his achievements on the golf course, but also for the way he looked while he was accruing them. In his trademark plus-fours and flat cap he was one of golf’s most recognisable figures.
Stewart was able to back up his sartorial self-confidence with a classic swing and stylish game. He won 25 tournaments as a professional, including three Majors.
He also represented the USA five times in the Ryder Cup, lastly in 1999. Tragically, just one month after that contest, Stewart was killed in a plane crash.
Sir Nick Faldo
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The most successful British golfer of the modern era, Faldo completely rebuilt his swing in order to become a Major champion.
Faldo didn’t take up golf until the age of 14 but four years later he was English amateur champion and two years after that he played in his first Ryder Cup.
He was a hugely talented player but felt he needed something extra to make it to the very top of the sport.
Faldo showed great courage in taking the decision to totally change his swing, but the gamble paid off and he went on to win six Major Championships from 1987 to 1996.
Bernhard Langer
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The model golf professional, Langer’s total dedication to excellence has won him 96 tournaments around the world.
Bernhard Langer’s caddy once famously gave him a yardage to the pin from a fairway sprinkler head and the German replied, “Is that from the front or the back of the sprinkler head?” Few golfers have ever approached the game so precisely and methodically as Langer.
He became the first German to win a Major when he claimed the 1985 U.S. Masters, and he added another title at Augusta in 1993.
His physical fitness has allowed him to continue winning as a senior. He has 47 victories on the Champions Tour, including 12 senior majors.
Vijay Singh
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The dedicated Fijian has a work ethic second to none in the world of professional golf.
In the history of the game there are few, if any, players who have practised as hard as Vijay Singh.
At one point, the big Fijian was hitting upwards of 1,000 balls a day on the range and spending eight hours practising when not competing.
But the hard work paid off for Vijay who finally became a Major champion at the age of 35 when he won the 1998 USPGA Championship, he won two further Majors and reached Number 1 on the World Rankings at the age of 41.
The lesson is: in golf, perseverance pays off.
Colin Montgomerie
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Colin Montgomerie was Europe’s talisman in the Ryder Cup as a player and then as a captain.
Over the last 30 years, “Monty” has been one of golf’s great personalities, always wearing his heart on his sleeve and never afraid to tell pundits and fans exactly what he thinks.
He was a perennial runner-up in Major Championships but broke his duck when he entered the senior ranks, winning both the Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Opens of 2014.
He played eight times for Europe in the Ryder Cup and never lost a singles match. He captained the side to victory at Celtic Manor in 2010.
Dame Laura Davies
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A powerful striker of the ball, Laura Davies is the most successful and influential female British golfer of modern times.
A measure of Laura Davies’ influence on European women’s golf is her appearance record in the biennial Solheim Cup matches against the USA. She played in the first of them in 1990 and then in the next 11 straight, lastly in 2011.
Davies has won the Ladies European Tour Order of Merit a record seven times and was the first non-American golfer to top the LPGA Tour money list. In 1987 she was the first British golfer to win the U.S. Women’s Open and she’s won a total of four major championships and two senior majors.
John Daly
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The all-or-nothing approach of “Wild Thing” John Daly has produced moments of brilliance and some incredible meltdowns.
With his huge over-swing and gung-ho golfing philosophy, John Daly burst onto the professional scene in 1991, coming from nowhere to win the USPGA Championship.
He could hit the ball phenomenal distances and this, coupled with his unpredictable behaviour, has made him a firm favourite with fans.
At times he could produce the most sublime golf, like in winning The Open Championship of 1995.
But he can also lose it pretty spectacularly: In the 2011 Australian Open he hit every ball in his bag into the same water hazard before walking off the course.
Ernie Els
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Smooth-swinging South African Ernie Els has spent a total of more than 15 years in the top-10 on the Official World Golf Ranking.
Standing 6 foot 3 inches tall, with a long, languid swing, Ernie Els is famed for generating seemingly effortless power on the golf course. His relaxed technique earned him the affectionate nickname – “The Big Easy.”
Following the footsteps of his countryman Gary Player, Els has been a formidable globetrotter since turning professional in 1989. He has won 67 tournaments around the world through a 26-year career.
Els has been a four-time Major champion and an inspiration to younger South African players like Louis Oosthuizen and 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.
Phil Mickelson
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The charismatic American is the most skilled manipulator of the lofted wedge to ever play the game of golf.
No golfer playing left-handed has enjoyed such success as six-time major champion Phil Mickelson. Ironically though, the Californian is actually right handed. He learned to swing by mirroring his father’s right-handed action so grew up a golfing “lefty.”
Mickelson is known for his audacious shot making and his un-matched prowess around the greens.
He possesses incredible creativity when it comes to short shots and his ability to hit a flop-shot with a hugely lofted club from an unimaginably tight lie is the stuff of golf legend.
Annika Sörenstam
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At the start of this millennium, Annika Sörenstam enjoyed an outstanding run of form, winning 27 tournaments between 2000 and 2002.
Sweden’s Annika Sörenstam changed the face of the women’s game and set new standards for future female professionals to aspire towards.
In 2001 she scored the first 59 on the LPGA Tour and became the first woman to win more than $2 million in a single season. The following year, she won an incredible 11 times on the circuit.
She won 10 major titles and was a great representative for golf around the world. Sörenstam retired from competitive golf in 2008 aged just 38.
Karrie Webb
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Supremely talented Australian Karrie Webb earned a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame when she was just 25-years-old.
Karrie Webb turned pro at the age of 19 in 1994 and she made a name for herself almost immediately. In her first full season on the Ladies European Tour she won the British Open and was named “rookie of the year.”
She has been an exceptionally consistent performer having won at least one tournament every year between her debut season and 2014, save for 2012.
She is renowned as one of the best ball-strikers in the women’s game and, with 41 titles to her name, is the most prolific winner currently active on the LPGA Tour.
Tiger Woods
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Tiger Woods is the most influential golfer in the history of the sport. He has changed the face of the game.
No player has spent so long at Number 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking as Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods. He’s sat at the top of the pile for a total of 683 weeks.
For a period at the start of this century, Woods was almost unbeatable.
His incredible 15-shot victory in the 2000 U.S. Open displayed the gulf between him and his rivals.
He has won an astonishing 110 tournaments since turning professional in 1996, including 15 majors.
Tiger’s fame has transcended golf and has brought billions of dollars of investment into the sport.
Lorena Ochoa
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In a professional career spanning just eight years, Ochoa won 30 tournaments and spent three years as World Number 1.
From an early age, it was clear Lorena Ochoa was going to be a special player. She first swung a club aged five, won her first state event in Mexico aged six and her first national title aged just seven.
She enjoyed a successful amateur career before turning professional in 2002.
She made it on to the LPGA Tour within a year and won at least one tournament every season on the circuit from 2004 until her retirement from competitive golf in order to start a family in 2010, at the age of 28.
Rory McIlroy
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In possession of one of the best swings in the history of golf, Rory McIlroy had won four Major titles by the age of 25.
It was clear from a young age that “Rors” was destined for great things. He won the Silver Medal for leading amateur in The Open at Carnoustie in 2007, just months later he turned professional and earned his European Tour card for the following season.
He is one of the most naturally talented and hard working golfers in the game and has now completed the career grand slam by winning the 2025 Masters.
McIlroy is known for his supremely consistent driving and his ability to deliver a potent blend of power and accuracy.
Nelly Korda
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The hugely talented American has been a dominant force in women’s golf in recent years.
Korda was born in 1988 and turned professional in 2016. She has won 20 pro tournaments, including 15 on the LPGA Tour. She is a two-time major champion.
For a spell in 2024, Korda went on an incredible run, winning seven tournaments, including the Chevron Championship, in the space of 11 months.
She is an Olympic champion – in Japan in 2021 and has already played in four Solheim Cup teams.
Scottie Scheffler
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The American has held the position of World Number 1 for over 150 weeks at time of writing.
A US Junior Amateur champion, Scottie Scheffler has won 17 times on the PGA Tour since turning professional in 2018.
He has been the most consistent player in men’s golf over the last five years and has won four majors in the last three seasons.
He is known for his precision and his incredible ability to control distance with his iron shots.
In 2025 he put in dominant displays to win both The Open Championship at Royal Portrush and the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow.
