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GOLF TEACHING PRO%u00ae 27 WINTER 2O26KNOWLEDGE MARK HARMANMOUNT RUSHMORE OF WOMEN%u2019S GOLFMOUNT RUSHMORE OF GOLFAnnika Sorenstam could well be the best female golfer of all time, with all due respect to other great champions before her. She won 72 LPGA Tour events and 10 major championships, and while neither are records, she accomplished this at a time when the fields were far deeper than in past years. When it comes to greatest LPGA Tour player of all time, a name that is surprisingly not mentioned early and often is Kathy Whitworth, but she makes our Mount Rushmore of Women%u2019s Golf. She won a record 88 events, more at the top level than any player, including men. While not often a fan favorite because of her polite and non-flashy demeanor, similar to Pete Sampras in tennis, she could certainly get the job done when she needed to.No Mount Rushmore of Women%u2019s Golf would be complete without Mickey Wright on it. Ben Hogan famously said she had the best swing in the game, period. Wright won 82 times on the LPGA Tour with 13 major championships. It is certainly worthy of debate whether she or Sorenstam (but don%u2019t forget about Whitworth!) is the best female player in history.Last but not least, Babe Zaharias. She well could be the best female athlete in history. She won two gold medals and a silver at the 1932 Summer Olympics before turning her sights to golf, winning 10 major championships. Crowds followed her everywhere and she had the personality more of that of a man, but make no mistake, she was all female. Her life was tragically cut short at the age of 45 due to cancer.It is here we tread into dangerous territory, coming up with our own version of Mount Rushmore for golf. Was Tiger Woods correct? Here%u2019s what we think: Ben Hogan has to be on the Mount Rushmore of Golf, with all due respect to Woods. The number of major championships and regular tour events, not to mention his outsized influence in all things golf, makes his selection mandatory. At the top of his game, Hogan would not take a backseat to four other players.Jack Nicklaus is up next. Winner of a still-record 18 major championships, Nicklaus set the standard for what it means to be a major champion. He came along at a time when Palmer reigned supreme and knocked Arnie off his perch, much to the chagrin of most golf fans. But Nicklaus soon won most of them over due to his graciousness in both victory and defeat.Sam Snead is perhaps the most underappreciated great golfer in history, often overshadowed by Hogan and Byron Nelson. Interestingly, all three were born in the same year, 1912. But Snead won a record 82 PGA Tour events and is the co-holder of that record with Woods. Anyone who is a record holder for most victories just has to be on the Mount Rushmore of Golf, so Woods was right.And yes, Tiger Woods makes our list for obvious reasons. As we just mentioned, Woods also has the record for most PGA Tour victories and a second-best 18 major championships. His winning percentage of over 21 percent is also an incredible feat that leaves everyone else in the dust.Finally, we must address why we left Bobby Jones off the ultimate Mount Rushmore. Six of his victories were in either the U.S. or British Amateurs, and while it%u2019s true that most of the best golfers of the time were amateurs, the closest margin of victory that Jones had in winning these amateur championships was 7&6 (all were played at match play), signifying that the level of competition just wasn%u2019t there. While it%u2019s true that he amassed an impressive seven U.S. and British Open wins, again, most pros at the time were not at his caliber except for Walter Hagan and Gene Sarazen. Well, there you have it. Feel free to disagree, because we are sure some of you will!