'The Golf 100' isn't so much a pecking order of greatest players. It's an index of lively profiles

From John McDermott’s fragile psyche to the sustained excellence of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods — oregon Woods and Nicklaus; nary spoiler present connected who’s No. 1 — this countdown of the apical golfers is little a database than an scale of insightful, lively profiles rife with anecdotes centered connected their astir joyous and miserable moments.

“The Golf 100: A spirited ranking of the top players of each time” is the 16th rubric by writer Michael Arkush, astir of them from the sports realm including New York Times bestsellers “The Last Season” with Phil Jackson and “The Big Fight” with Sugar Ray Leonard. This 1 is each Arkush and displays his storytelling — immoderate sweet, immoderate savory, a fewer bitter — successful bite-size pieces.

He includes greats from the aboriginal 20th century. He includes greats from different countries. He includes women. Why? Because their stories are compelling, adjacent if ranking them became messy.

So, yes, determination are 100 successful all, dispersed implicit 366 pages.

Lists of the top golfers aren’t a caller conceit. GolfDay published 1 a twelvemonth ago. Golf Digest has its own. Folks person concocted lists connected Reddit. Bleacher Report took a swing. There is adjacent the website thealltimegreatestgolfers.com.

Times sportswriter Houston Mitchell got much than 12,000 readers to respond successful 2009 to a canvass ranking golfers. The apical 5 are among Arkush’s apical 10, though not remotely successful the aforesaid order.

Most rankings are based connected constituent systems, assigning weighted numbers to categories specified arsenic full tournaments won, top-10 finishes, subordinate of the twelvemonth awards, vocation longevity and show successful the 4 majors — the U.S. Open, Masters, British Open and PGA Championship.

Arkush prioritized the majors, penning successful the guardant that they “feature the strongest fields and, much often than not, are staged connected the astir demanding courses. When past is connected the line.”

Still, Arkush allowed himself licence aft covering nonrecreational play for 30 years (he was an amusement newsman for The Times from 1988 to 1995). Once the numbers were tabulated, helium shuffled the platform by employing subjective criteria specified arsenic a golfer’s interaction oregon contributions to the sport.

“I was akin to a juror who, contempt a stern informing from the justice not to fto grounds deemed inadmissible beryllium a origin successful the verdict, couldn’t assistance its affecting his reasoning successful 1 mode oregon another,” Arkush wrote.

An illustration is his inclusion of Francis Ouimet, a sanction unfamiliar to each but the astir superior play past buffs. He won the 1913 U.S. Open astatine the tender property of 20 implicit Harry Vardon, a British play titan credited with inventing the modern grip and swing. Bobby Jones, the epitome of class, came on next, and the pendulum soon swung to the U.S. broadside of the Atlantic.

Like truthful galore writers, Arkush was loath to fto numbers get successful the mode of a bully yarn, opening with ranking McDermott astatine No. 100. The cheeky lad of a mailman became the archetypal American to triumph the U.S. Open successful 1911 — astatine property 19 — 1 twelvemonth aft helium finished 2nd to Scottish migrant Alex Smith, telling him arsenic they exited the course, “I’ll get you adjacent year, you large tramp.”

McDermott’s penchant for popping disconnected soon got him successful trouble, and that was followed by a steep fall. He embarrassed the much genteel of his countrymen by bragging astir his Open victories successful the beingness of Vardon. Then helium was saved by a lifeboat aft being a unfortunate of a shipwreck. Then helium mislaid a luck successful the banal market. Then helium was committed to a sanitarium successful 1916 and was ne'er the same.

Arkush concludes the illustration describing a accidental gathering betwixt an aged McDermott and a gracious Arnold Palmer that provides a poignant transportation betwixt the infancy of nonrecreational play successful America and its elevation successful stature to the “Arnie’s Army” level by 1970.

Only 99 to go.

The database includes 15 women, trailblazers and champions specified arsenic Mickey Wright, whose 82 Tour victories included 13 majors and whose plaything was lauded arsenic the champion of anyone careless of sex by nary little than Ben Hogan.

Pioneers of the sport, firmly planted successful the wellspring of 19th-century Scotland, are fixed their due. While the Union and Confederate armies were preparing for warfare crossed the pond, Willie Park Jr. and Old Tom Morris exuded geniality and competence connected the green, dominating the British Open from its inception successful 1860 done much than a decade.

Old Morris passed connected his mashie niblick — an aboriginal word for a 7 robust — to his arsenic talented son, Young Tom Morris, who won the British Open 4 times from 1868 to 1872. They are the lone father-son combo among the 100.

Americans began to clasp their ain by the 1920s, and nonrecreational play has accrued successful popularity arsenic a spectator athletics to this day. It’s besides an endeavor that astir anyone tin effort and galore go passionate about.

One 100 is simply a somewhat arbitrary fig to headdress excellence, interaction and irresistible storytelling. It’s plentifulness for Arkush to mine, though, and subordinate the past of play done the precise champion golfers.

As for the thorny task of comparing golfers crossed generations and adjacent centuries, Arkush leans connected the contented of Jones, whose words tin beryllium extrapolated reasonably to see women arsenic good arsenic men:

“I deliberation we indispensable hold that each a antheral tin bash is bushed the radical who are astir astatine the aforesaid clip helium is. He cannot triumph from those who came earlier immoderate much than helium tin from those who whitethorn travel afterward.”