The Five Top Golf Rivalries with History

An important element of any sport will be the individual or team competitive rivalries that develop. The Yankees and Red Sox or Cubs and Cardinals are great baseball rivalries, and they often build up during a period of time in the course of their head-to-head meetings. Golf isn't any different, but by the nature of golfing competitions today they do not involve as many face-to-face matchups. Except for Ryder Cup contests golfers are usually in competition with the entire field inside a contest.

I'm going to talk about 5 golf rivalries, but we are going to take under consideration not just the degree of competitiveness but their historical import to the game of golf. Because of this I won't include, for example Tiger Woods-Phil Mickelson because I do not think it was a significant rivalry for the game of golf. Golf fans wanted it to be, though for most of the era Woods was thoroughly dominating. Huge rivalries need to have competitors which are on fairly equal ranking.

1. Palmer-Nicklaus. That rivalry was momentous as it took place when television was first becoming a major part of spectator sports. It attracted countless new followers than ever before plus gave golf a kick-start among the general population. Arnold Palmer was most likely the first superstar golfer inside the television age, so fans flocked to him. But he was challenged by the upstart Jack Nicklaus, who was the superior golfer though Palmer followers refused to admit it, it created intriguing golf drama.

2. Snead-Hogan. Here are a couple of true icons of golf and it is interesting their careers replicated one another, but simultaneously they had been completely unlike people. Through the late 30s to late 50s they were intense opponents, Sam Snead winning 81 tournaments plus Ben Hogan 61, nine of them majors. Snead triumphed in seven majors however the blemish on his resume was to never win the US Open.

3. Nicklaus-Watson. I think this was an ideal rivalry given it epitomizes precisely what each rivalry should be. Their individual duels created some of the most memorable golf shots in golf history, and when they challenged one another it never seemed like somebody lost, but the winner triumphed due to great play. Nearly as notable had been the common admiration Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus had for each other.

4. Faldo-Norman. After the Nicklaus-Palmer and Nicklaus-Watson rivalries had concluded there was a lull. I think we all had missed those rivalries and looked for another, though when an Australian and also a Brit elevated to prominence it introduced an international essence to golf. And this is something we've seen since that time. During those years Nick Faldo won six majors but Greg Norman spent 331 weeks as the world's top ranked player. Norman will probably go down in history as being the unluckiest golfer in major competitions.

5. Azinger-Ballesteros. I mention this rivalry not for the brilliant records, though both were very accomplished golfers, but I believe this rivalry has a great deal to do with making the Ryder Cup what it is today. It began in 1989, and their not so polite confrontations helped transform the Ryder Cup into the high-intensity events in these modern times.