In Part One of this series, I examined the career of British golfer Harry Vardon. It is my contention that Jack Nicklaus is not necessarily the greatest golfer of all time, and his record needs to be carefully compared to other outstanding golfers of the past.
This week, I compare the records of Nicklaus and Walter Hagen. This series will conclude with a Top Ten list of the greatest golfers of all time.
Walter Hagen won 11 major tournaments in his career. His first tour win was the 1914 US Open, when he was a mere 22 years of age. Eerily, Jack Nicklaus's first tour win was the US Open as well. Like Hagen, he also won it at the age of 22.
Hagen didn't quite match Jack's longevity the way Harry Vardon did. Hagen won his last major in 1929 at age 37. Nicklaus stopped winning majors consistently in 1980 at the age of 40, but did add a final Masters victory at age 46.
However, Hagen continued to play very well into his 40s. He finished third at the US Open at age 44, but he wasn't able to win at as late an age as Nicklaus.
I've compared their career totals in the four majors below:
US Open
Number of events played
Nicklaus.....24
Hagen.......22
Wins
Nicklaus.....4
Hagen........2
2nd Place
Nicklaus......3
Hagen........1
Top Five
Nicklaus......9
Hagen.........8
Top Ten
Hagen.......16
Nicklaus.....15
The US Open is the one event where we can compare these two almost straight up, because they played in nearly the same number of events. During their primes, Hagen played in 22 US Opens to Jack's 24. (2 US Opens were cancelled during Hagen's career because of WW1).
Hagen only won two to Jack's four, so Nicklaus clearly comes out on top in terms of US Open wins.
However, it should be noted that overall, their statistics are remarkably similar. Also, Hagen's two victories were sandwiched around the two missing WW1 years, so it is conceivable he might have won a third or fourth if he had had the opportunity.
PGA Championship
Number of events played
Nicklaus.....22
Hagen.......12
Wins
Nicklaus.....5
Hagen.......5
Nicklaus had a ton of second place and top five finishes in the PGA, but I can't compare them to Hagen because during Hagen's era, the PGA Championship was a match play event.
As any golf fan knows, it is much more difficult for the superior player to win a match play event than a stroke play event, because of the risk of losing to a hot player in an early round.
Therefore, not only was Hagen's winning percentage in the PGA twice as high as Jack's, he won under a much more difficult format.
Even more remarkable is that for six straight PGA Championship tournaments, Hagen played in the final pairing every time, losing only once. The streak included winning 29 straight matches.
When all is said and done in Tiger Woods' career, he may be remembered as much for his six straight amateur match-play victories as anything else.
For Hagen to win four straight and five of six match play events at the professional level is no doubt his greatest achievement.
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