It is normal to see a list of the best golfers of all time but this isn’t such a list. What happened to making an innocent list of all the famous golfers that have done a lot in the golf community?
Yes, this is a list that won’t pit one golfer against the other, in this list consisting of the most famous golfers the world has ever known we’re just going to mention their names. And most likely what they did to become the golfers we know today.
In order for this to truly be a comprehensive list of the 20 most famous golfers ever, we have decided to group the golfers into individual sections. This way, every golfer gets the opportunity to show for their works in their respective community.
Famous female golfers
Kathy Whitworth
Kathy Whitworth, born in 1939 is a famous female golfer with 88 wins at the LPGA tour. Kathy won 6 major titles and she was the first golfer to earn 1 million US dollars.
Mickey Wright
Mickey was famous for her accurate swing which enabled her win 82 major LPGA tours and 13 major titles. Mickey is a famous golf legend and this made Ben Hogan, who is a men’s golf legend, state that Mickey’s swing was the best he had seen.
Annika Sorenstam
Being the only female golfer to shoot a solid 59 score in a competition, Annika sure has a place on this list. Annika won a total of 72 LPGA wins, 17 Ladies European Tour wins,10 major titles, and she was also named player of the year eight times during the course of her career.
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Pathy Berg
Pathy Berg was born in the year 1918, she is also a founding member of the LPGA tour. Berg has a total of 63 tour wins to her name, 15 major titles and she also helped revolutionize women golf.
Babe Didrikson Zaharias
Babe Didrikson had a short career but it is still worth mentioning on this list. She was an incredible sportswoman and she has two gold medals and a silver medal from the 1932 Olympics as evidence.
She died shortly after turning into a professional golfer at age 45 in 1956.
Famous old golfers
Arnold Palmer
In all of Golf history, Arnold Palmer was the most charismatic player to ever play the game which makes him a good name to appear on the famous golfers’ list. He won 62 PGA tours, and he helped bring life to British Open by simply showing up to play the tournament.
Ben Hogan
Ben Hogan had a struggling golf career and it showed. From struggling to break out on the tour scene to a horrific accident that put his career on pause, Hogan’s name needed to be on this list because he came back strong. He managed to win 9 major championship victories and 62 career wins.
Sam Snead
Sam deserves a place on this list, he played the game of golf and he played well into his old age. He has a ground – breaking number of PGA tour wins at 82 times. These wins includes his first win in 1936, and his last won in 1965.
Byron Nelson
If there was one famous golfer that was widely considered as the greatest golfer of all time, that person would be Byron Nelson. He was a great player who went on to cinch 52 PGA tour wins including 5 majors. Amongst his peers, Byron was the first to attain greatness but he also retired from the golf scene early.
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Walter Travis
According to World Golf Hall of Fame – Class of 1979: “There has not been a golfer who played so well after starting so late in life as Walter J. Travis. Walter started playing golf in his mid – thirties but he still proved that one can amount to anything they put their mind to irrespective of age.
Walter won his first tournament a month after hitting his first golf ball, he won the British Amateur once and the American Amateur four times.
Famous hispanic golfers
Lee Trevino
Born Lee Buck Trevino, this famous golfer is one of the greatest golfer in the history of the game. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981, and over the course of his career he won 29 PGA tours and six major championships.
Lee is one of four players to have won the U.S. Open, The Open Championship and the PGA Championship twice. He was a known icon amongst Mexican American and he was given the nickname “The Merry Mex” and “Supermex,” by other golfers.
Abe Espinosa
Abelard George Espinosa who goes by the name ‘Abe’ is the first hispanic golfer to win a professional championship. He won his first PGA tour in 1828, and after retired from playing, he was involved in golf course architecture and design.
Joe Jimenez
Joe Jimenez was born in Kerrville Texas and he is famous for winning 1978 PGA Seniors’ Championships. He graduated from Trinity University with degrees in Biology and Physical education. Another information worthy of mention is that he played on the PGA tour in 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.
Nancy Lopez
Nancy whose real name is Nancy Marie Lopez is a retired golfer who joined the LPGA tour in 1977 and went on to win 48 LPGA tours including three major Championships.
Lorena Ochoa
Lorena Ochoa was the first hispanic golfer to be ranked number one, so this makes her the greatest hispanic golfer of all time. She played on the US – based LPGA tour from 2003 to 2010 and she was the top – ranked female golfer for a total of 158 weeks consecutively. She held this title from 23 April 2007 to 2 May 2010 when she retired.
Famous Japanese golfers
Yuta Ikeda
Yuta Ikeda is a famous golfer who turned to a professional golfer in the year 2008 after winning the Japanese junior championships in the year 2002 and 2003 consecutively. During his first season after going pro, he won the Japan Challenge Tour. In 2009 Yuta won his first Lady of Triumph and he has a total of 21 Triumphs now.
Katsumasa Miyamoto
Born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1972, Katsumasa, a famous golfer joined the Japan Golf tour and went on to win his first title in 1998, and he also won titles in 2001, 2014, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2017, and 2019. So far, Miyamoto has a total of 13 wins professionally.
Taichi Teshima
Taichi is a self-taught professional golfer who started playing golf from the young age of seven. Teshima was born in Fukuoka, Japan and he says his father is the major influence of his career. This famous golfer has eight wins from the Japan golf tour to his name and he has appeared on the best 100 Official World Golf Rankings.
Yoshinori Fujimoto
Yoshinori is an expert golf player who was born in 25 October 1989. In 2011, Yoshinori becames a famous golfer by winning the individual silver celebration during the Summer Universidad. He turned into a professional golfer in the year 2012 and in the same year Yoshinori won his first title at the Japan Golf Tour Championship Citibank Cup Shishido Hills.
Hiroyuki Fujita
Hiroyuki Fujita is a professional golfer who was born in 16 June 1969. Hiroyuki has won 18 competitions on the Japan Golf Tour and he also appeared in the top 50 Official World Golf Ranking. Fujita became a famous golfer when he won four competitions on the Japan Golf Tour.
Famous black golfers
Calvin Peete
Calvin Peete became a famous golfer because he was the most successful black golfer before Tiger Woods came into the golf scene. Peete has a total of 12 wins during the course of his career. In 1984, this famous golfer cinched the Vardon Trophy for best scoring average.
Althea Gibson
Althea Gibson became a famous golfer when she joined the LPGA Tour in 1964. In five years, Gibson was ranked top 50 money winners in the LPGA Tour. She made it up to the 27th position in the rank table in 1966.
This golfer was also an excellent tennis player seeing as she won the Grand Slam singles titles five time, including Wimbledon and what is now called the U.S Open twice in the same year.
Renee Powell
Being the second black woman to play for the LPGA Tour, Renee Powell won herself a spot on this famous golfers list. In February of 2015, this golfer became the first female member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club. Renee competed in over 250 professional events during her career and a notable win of hers is the Kelly Springfield Open in Brisbane, Australia.
Charles Owens
Charles Owens began playing golf professionally in 1967 and he went on to join the PGA three years later in 1970. Owens spent seven years on the Tour and he won the 1971 Kemper Asheville Open, a “satellite” PGA Tour event. Charles became a famous golfer during the Senior PGA Tour after winning twice in three consecutives games.
Bill Spiller
Bill Spiller did not begin his golf career until he clocked 30 and he became a famous golfer because he won tournaments despite this late started. In the 1940s, Bill competed in and won a number of blacks – only beginners golf tournaments and he used his career to address racial discriminations within the PGA.
