Best player never to be ranked #1 in the world?

PIGDivot · 2016-05-31T16:15:04+00:00

I get bored at work sometimes, and I often scan http://www.owgr.com/ranking and was looking at Mickelson's history and rankings, etc. Is he the best player...

Spuzz

Brian Manzella

mcavoy

Spuzz
I chuckled

Release

In the old days before the game gets all the endorsement money, there were a lot of great players whom never made it to the media. Hidden from the lime light for the reason of private gaming bets
In those days a private betting game could be a lot more than winning several Official events.

pike51

Mitchell Kumpstein

letthebigdogshunt

Not sure if he was ever Number one or not, but I would pick Billy Casper. 51 wins on tour and 3 Majors. I know he did not get the respect he desired mostly due to Palmer and Nicklaus during his career. Sorry Mcavoy I missed you post citing Casper.

Spuzz

Here's a list that's worthy of conversation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_McCormack%27s_world_golf_rankings

PIGDivot

Spuzz yeah, that's a good list and great information to have. For me it would be difficult to talk about, because of ignorance for the most part. I have only vague recollection of tournaments and golfers that played when I was still very young. Even into high school I had no clue about pro golf, beyond Jack Nicklaus and a few others. I just didn't pay that close attention to any of it, and part of the reason was because we were so limited as to what information we were given back then. Unlike now when social media has exploded and every move by every pro is examined and broadcast, back then we were fortunate to see golf on TV on the weekends, and usually only for a few hours. Much different world back then.

Spuzz

What I gather from this list is that Gary Player would be the best to never reach #1, based on his three 2nd place rankings, and that Trevino and Miller are close behind.

Supp

Player and Trevino were the first names that came to mind, but Spuzz's list only goes back to 1968 and there was one dominant player back then, Arnie.

Spuzz

Technically, there were no official rankings before the semi-official rankings done by McCormack.
So Arnie couldn't have been ranked #1 because there weren't any rankings, although in reality, he was.
He was passed his prime when they started them.
(not a historian here, just going by what I found on Google)

PIGDivot

Spuzz other factors to consider as well, were that the tournament schedule was totally different back then, as well as not having anywhere near the money then that they have now in pro golf. Heck, Nicklaus sold insurance in the off season just to feed his family, and he was the best there was back then.

Going back even further, you have to consider Walter Hagen, Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan in all of this. Sam Snead anyone? Heck, Bobby Jones won 13 majors in his time, including the calendar year Grand Slam as an amateur. Is that even possible now, having an amateur be ranked #1?

Spuzz

PIGDivot Is that even possible now, having an amateur be ranked #1?

It is still possible I believe.
Although, the person would have to having one heck of a hot streak for two years and the lure of turning pro and cashing in would likely derail that.
Number 1 (today) really means nothing aside from personal ego gratification, so no reason to try to achieve that as an Amateur playing with the pros.
Payday is the goal now.