We all know that putting is a game within a game and those who manage to excel at the black arts are usually the ones to go home with someone else's money in their pocket
Willie Park Jr situated directly said that the man who can putt is a match for anyone in the rarified atmosphere and of today's pro Tours that has never been truer. Players can hit the ball so far, with such accuracy, that the man who can putt the best tournaments and championships vitably his only two Major successes came at Augusta, where putting is the first game you need to bring.
9. Bobby Jones
The Master stayed faithful to his putter ' Calamity Jane ' throughout his career, and she remained faithful to him, helping deliver a remarkable string of success. Between 1923 and 1930, when he retired, Jones played in 23 of the Majors for which he was eligible, and won 13 of them-a strike rate of 62%, which no other player has come near matching. And a lot of it was down to putting. In almost every regard he was, simply, the Greatest.
8. Seve Ballesteros
Missing a putt, to Seve, was a personal insult, and he hated to be insulted. From the marvellousfist-pumping excesses of St Andrews 18th green when he beat Tom Watson in the ' 84 Open, to the miles and miles of putts he holed in the Ryder cup to beat the hated Americans, Seve played on the green exactly as he did everywhere else on the course, with no fear. He was aggressive, bold and even towards the end of his career, never frightened of the one coming back.
7. Tiger Woods
When Phil Mickelson was asked in March this year by US magazine, who he'd pick to make a five-footer for his life he said: ' Tiger, because he's made more clutch putts under the gun than anybody I have ever seen other than maybe Nicklaus. ' He went on to cite the sliding 5-footer against Bob May at the 2000 PGA Championship, and the putts he made in the Presidents Cup in the dark from 15-18 feet. AsPhil said: ' He's made a lot of 'em. ' Great putters make them when they have to and there has probably never been anybody more consistent from 10-feet and under when it counts.
6. Jack Nicklaus
His awkward, crab-like stance, hunched over the ball, right knee bent and all his weight on the left side, never looked to be the most aesthetically beautiful thing in golf but few actions were as effective. His finest day came in the ' 86 Masters, his last Major, when he wielded an over-sized MacGregor putter to devastating effect Response over the back nine to pinch the green jacket from under the noses of Seve Ballesteros and Greg Norman, but that was only the most recent of many memorable days of the short grass for the Daddy of them all.
5. Peter Thomson
The Australianwho took five Open championships, three of them in a row, is probably the most neglected multiple Major champion in golfing history. His quietly spoken, relaxed demeanour disguised the depth of his bloody-minded determination to win and he probably had the smoothest and best-looking putting stroke of anyone on this list. It wasn't quite as effective as some but was a thing of beauty, and it got the job done.
4. Young Tom Morris
Bob Ferguson, who himself won the Open three times in succession, said of the man who was first to achieve the feat: ' Tom Morris would putt and before the ball was halfway to the hole, turn away and say to the boy carrying his clubs: ' Pick it out of the hole, laddie. ' And this was in the days when greens that resembled sheep-grazing tracks (which,incidentally, they often were) and clubs were made from the jawbone of an ass. It is important, though, to make the distinction between Tom Morris Jr. and his father, who couldn't putt tennis ball into the Grand Canyon.
3. Sir Bob Charles
The first left-hander and New Zealander to win the Open (in 1963), Charles is now 65 and has just announced that next season will be his last as a golf professional, after almost 50 years of showing his fellow pros how it should be done on the greens. So good and consistent has his putting stroke remained that he won 23 times on the US Senior Tour, (Champions) at an age when many others are fighting the yips, and he has 70 professional wins total. First came to prominence as an 18-year-old amateur prodigy when he won the NZ Open and hehasn't stopped winning since.
2. Bobby Locke
The South African was unconventional in everything he did. He wasn't even named Robert but was christened Arthur D'arcy-the Bobby came from his habit of bobbing up and down in his pram. He familiarly wore a white cap, shoes and shirt (including necktie) and dark plus fours, in which he carried his portly frame down the fairways with such ponderous elegance that his passing could have been likened to that of a royal barge on the Thames. His golf game was also out-of-the-ordinary, and involved sending every shot at least 40-yards right of target and hooking it back it into play. But it was on the greens where he broke people's hearts and he always maintained that any round of golf involving more than 28 putts was a bad one. He wonfour Opens and when he went to America they laughed, until he won six times in a short space of time with such dominance that the ever-insular US Tour changed its rules so that he couldn't go back. One of the Americans he beat Lloyd Mangrum, said in 1982: ' That son of a bitch Locke was able to hole a putt over 60-feet of peanut brittle. '
1. Sir Michael Bonallack
Quite simply, in the eyes of many, the former secretary of the R & A is the best putter there has ever been. As a lifelong amateur he was never tested against the very best pros but many of those who witnessed him in action agreed that he was peerless. Like so many masters of the green, he stayed faithful to one putter and had an idiosyncratic style that was all his own. Peter Alliss said of him: ' Michael Bonallackwas a remarkable player. He had a magnificent short game that was all of his own making. When putting he took up a big, wide stance with his nose almost sniffing the ball and had a short, jabby swing but all the putts went in the hole. ' Sir Michael's honours in the amateur game are far too numerous to mention but includes five amateur championships and four English amateur Championship. In the 1963 English Amateur at Burnham & Berrow, he got up and down on two 22 times in 36 holes against Alan Thirwell. Far too modest to agree with this assessment, he nevertheless was the best.
Definitely not on the list
Ivan Gantz; early US Tour pro who was famous for hitting himself in the head when he missed a short putt, and once even knocked himself out.
Larry Nelson; who once saidwith commendable honesty: ' I play along every year, waiting for one week, maybe two, when I can putt.
Clayton Heafner; of whom fellow American pro Cary Middlecoff said: ' The only time he could putt was when he was mad enough to hate the ball into the hole. '
Had it but lost it
Tom Watson; Fearlessly aggressive in his early days and never minded knocking it five feet past because he would always get the one coming back.
Now he doesn't
Ben Hogan; Still a fabulous swinger of a golf club well into his 50s but couldn't putt for his life.
Tony Jacklin; Never the same after Lee Trevino broke his heart and picked his pocket for the ' 71 Open by chipping in from everywhere.
Peter Alliss; Lost it at the Italian Open when he retired mid-round after missing atwo-footer.
Sam Snead; Rescued himself for a while by putting sidesaddle but when that was outlawed your own he was back to the yips.
Honourable mention
Bernhard Langer; for having, and overcoming the yips three times, which is just about unique at the highest level.
Almost made it into the top-25
Arnold Palmer; Always wonderfully aggressive but his collection of more than 80 putters reveal how he struggled at times.
Retief Goosen; One of the most consistent-holer-outs in the world and his two US Opens are a measure of his ability.
David Toms; Rarely three-putts and WGC Matchplay win might just propel him to the next level.
Potential to join the greats
Paul Casey; The combination of Luke Donald's iron play and Casey's putting wrapped up lastyear's World Cup of golf.
Adam Scott; At his best a wonderful putter but not at his best often enough yet.
Stewart Cink; Rolls them in from everywhere
Mike Weir; Won the Masters on the greens but not yet truly consistent enough.
Sergio Garcia: Currently worried about his inconsistency but has the stroke and imagination to be a world beater.
The Greatest Putters in Golf
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