Who is Gary Player’s choice for the greatest golfer of all-time?
WEST PALM BEACH — Gary Player believes it’s impossible to compare golfers from different eras.
«We raked bunkers with our feet,» said Player, who spoke Monday at the Sports Business Club of the Palm Beaches event at Palm Beach Kennel Club. «We had wooden heads, heavy shafts. It’s a completely different … Wow.
«This is why when people make comparisons with golfers they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s impossible now.»
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Still, I asked the 87-year-old Player if he could rank the best of all time.
First he said Bobby Jones «might be the best player that ever lived. He played with a walking stick as a shaft. You played with the ball that went 80 yards less.»
Then he said Ben Hogan was «the best player I ever saw from tee to green. (He) knew more about the swing than anybody I’ve ever met by a mile. Ben Hogan would turn in his grave if he saw what some of the pros are teaching now on the backswing.»
Then Player, winner of nearly 160 professional events including nine majors each on the PGA Tour and Tour Champions, thought for a moment.
«If you want to pick the top five, put what they did on a piece of paper, right? People don’t want to do that. Not how long they hit. No ifs. Everybody’s got an if,» said Player, who lives part-time on Jupiter Island.
«So I’d have to say Jack (Nicklaus),» Player said about his «brother» and the North Palm Beach resident who won a record 18 majors on the PGA Tour and eight on the Tour Champions.
«After that, I don’t know. I think Tiger Woods. He was unfortunate. His knees and his back and his car accident. What would happen if that never happened?
«There’s the ‘if.’ «
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Did Tiger, Nicklaus, Hogan or Jones top Gary Player’s all-time golf list?
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