Top 10 Irish Golfers of All-Time
Here we name some golfers from Ireland, who make up the Golfers of All-Time list. Of course, we'll updated as warranted, because several of the golfers below will move up. We include Irish golfers from throughout the island of Ireland.
Padraig Harrington
Padraig Harrington was the first Irish golfer to win multiple professional major championships until Rory McIlroy joined him. Harrington was a top player for years before his career exploded in the mid-2000s. It was in 2005 that he won his first USPGA title. Then in 2007 he won the British Open, and in 2008 added another Open Championship plus the PGA Championship. For his career, Harrington has 14 wins on the European Tour and five on the PGA Tour including three majors.
Christy O'Connor Sr.
Christy O'Connor Sr. is not really a Sr. at all. But when his nephew named Christy O'Connor, joined the European Tour, everyone started referring to them as Sr. and Jr. And that's how they are known.
O'Connor a stalwart on the Ryder Cup teams shows up often on Ryder Cup records page. He was one of the best players in Europe from the mid-1950s into the 1970s, winning dozens of tournaments on the precursor to the European Tour. He in the British Open posting 10 Top 10s in the Open finishing second in 1965.
Darren Clarke
Darren Clarke never quite lived up to expectations but he definitely lived it up! Clarke put together an excellent career in golf, primarily on the European Tour where he has more than a dozen victories. He also has wins on the USPGA tour. In 2011 he won the 2011 British Open . Clarke's previous best finishes at the Open were second in 1997 and third in 2001. Clarke also played in five Ryder Cups with a good overall record, proving tough to beat in fourballs.
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy has just won the British Open of 2014 after winning the 2012 PGA Championship. McIlroy had four wins on the USPGA Tour, four wins on the European Tour, both totals now include three majors. Rory McIlroy's first win in a major happened at the 2011 U.S. Open. All of his majors to date were in dominating fashion - McIlroy winhning each by eight strokes. McIlroy was No. 1 in the worldseveral times. He's still very young.
Graeme McDowell
Graeme McDowell
Graeme McDowell was putting together a fine career prior to 2010. He had four wins on the European Tour. He wasn't anything spectacular, but was solid. And then 2010 happened. And 2010 was one of the most momentous years for any golfer of the Tiger Woods Era outside of Woods himself. McDowell won two "regular" Euro Tour events, won the U.S. Open, sank the winning putt in the Ryder Cup, then beat Woods head-to-head at Woods' own tournament.
Fred Daly
Fred Daly started winning tournaments in the late 1930s and continued into the 1950s. He is credited with 20-something professional wins record keeping wasn't so great in those days, a total that surely would be higher except for World War II.
Daly has the distinction of being the first Irishman to win one of golf's professional majors. He won the 1947 British Open. Daly had four other Top 4 finishes in the Open Championship.
Des Smyth
Fred Daly
Fred Daly started winning tournaments in the late 1930s and continued into the 1950s. He is credited with 20-something professional wins record keeping wasn't so great in those days, a total that surely would be higher except for World War II.
Daly has the distinction of being the first Irishman to win one of golf's professional majors. He won the 1947 British Open. Daly had four other Top 4 finishes in the Open Championship.
Des Smyth
Des Smyth was a consistent, player on the European Tour for many years, winning eight times. The first of those was was in 1979. In his last Euro Tour win, at the 2001 Madeira Island Open, Smyth broke the tour record for oldest winner. He was 48 at the time.
Smyth also won the Irish National PGA Championship six times; won twice on the Champions Tour; and posted three wins on the European Seniors Tour. He played in two Ryder Cups.
Harry Bradshaw
Harry Bradshaw won numerous tournaments in Britain and Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s, including a pair of British Masters and a pair of Irish Opens. He was a 3-time member of the Ryder Cup team. But he's probably most famous - or perhaps infamous - for one that got away. Bradshaw lost to Bobby Locke in a playoff at the 1949 British Open. But he might have won prior to the play off if not for a strange incident in the second round. On the fifth hole, Bradshaw hit a wayward drive, and his ball came to rest in the bottom of a broken beer bottle. Hey, conditions were rough back then. Bradshaw was entitled to a free drop, but didn't take it. He played it as it lie. Glass went flying, but the ball barely did. He wound up with a 77 in that round.
Ronan Rafferty
Ronan Rafferty was a 7-time winner on the European Tour between 1989 and 1993, and also won five times on the Australasian Tour. He made a Ryder Cup team and lead the European Tour money list. It's a tough call but we rank Rafferty ahead of the golfer at No. 10 because we think Rafferty had a better peak.
Eamonn Darcy
Eamonn Darcy
Eamonn Darcy was competitive for a longer time than Rafferty, winning on the European Tour in 1977 and in 1990 - but only twice in-between. Darcy also had second- and third-place finishes on the money list, and made three Ryder Cup teams. Rafferty, Darcy and David Feherty - who would be No. 11 if this list went to 11 - seem pretty interchangable as far as career value.
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