With every new generation, a new name is added to the list of the world’s greatest golfers. And as the list continues to grow, the golf’s greatest debate never seems to fade. Ask a golfer who is the greatest, and it could start a conversation that lasts throughout the 18 holes. The names, however, will differ from person to person. Some would say it’s Jack Nicklaus, others would name Tiger Woods, while some would even point out towards Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones, or others. But for most, it’s between Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, and Lee Trevino has made his pick, making his feelings clear on the debate.

SiriusXM PGA Tour and Michael Breed shared an Instagram post of a conversation with the 6x major champion. In the audio post, golf fans can hear Lee Trevino say the top three golfers of all time. “I think the top orange, in my opinion, is between three golfers. It’s Nicklaus, Snead, and Bobby Jones, and Tiger’s touching them. Tiger’s gotta hold up them a little bit. Tiger, in my opinion, was the best player that’s ever played. I think Nicklaus was the best golfer,” Lee Trevino is heard saying.

All three of them have had an impressive golf career. Nicklaus, the Golden Bear, has won 18 major championships. He won the Masters 6 times, the PGA Championship 5 times, the US Open 4 times, and the Open Championship 3 times. Besides that, Nicklaus amassed 73 PGA Tour titles. Sam Snead, popularly nicknamed the Slammin’ Sammy, had 7 major and 82 PGA Tour victories. His career spanned nearly 5 decades, starting from the 1930s and into the 1970s. Bobby Jones has also made his mark on the sport with 13 major titles.

The 6x major winner’s comments come at a time when the Tiger Woods vs Jack Nicklaus debate is heating up. Recently, Gary Player said that Jack Nicklaus is the greatest golfer of all time and that Tiger Woods is second. However, his remarks were based solely on numbers and records. And based on that, he even said that he was the third-best golfer in the history of the sport.

“I’ve won the most golf tournaments in the world. I’m the only one to win the Grand Slam on the regular and senior tours. I won more national titles, U.S., British, Australia, etc., than Arnold, Jack, and Tiger combined. I’ve lasted longer than anybody who has ever played golf. I’m never rated in the top 5. The only way you judge somebody is you look at the record book, and they don’t do that,” Player said.

Both Player and Trevino said that Jack Nicklaus is ahead of Tiger Woods. While Player made his statement based on numbers, Lee Trevino had some other reason. He said that Woods could be the best player, but Nicklaus is the greatest golfer.

“When you look at a player, you look at the shot-making. I don’t think there’s anybody who has more shots than Woods, and he had as much power as Jack Nicklaus. Jack Nicklaus was more of a finesse player. Jack Nicklaus could hit it 300 with the old equipment if he wanted to. He didn’t want to. He wanted to put it in the fairway. That’s why Nicklaus went to a fade. Nicklaus never hooked the ball much. Nicholas had a tremendously fast left shoulder. When you have a left shoulder that’s that fast, you hold the angle longer. The longer you hold the angle, the more consistent you’re gonna be simply because the back of the left hand and the golf club are square with each other,” Lee Trevino said.

Unlike Player, Trevino ranks Nicklaus not by numbers but by skills and finesse. The 6x major winner has rightly said that Woods might have more shots than any other. He has worked with legendary coaches, including Butch Harmon, Hank Haney, Sean Foley, and Chris Como, to improve his game and swings. This would have helped him garner a wide range of strokes. However, Trevino puts Nicklaus higher for his art and craft.

While Trevino puts Nicklaus, Snead, and Jones as the best golfers, he himself was no smug.

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Lee Trevino’s deadly serious game, combined with humor

Lee Trevino was known as “Merry Mex” for his jolly, humorous on-course personality. But beneath that was a highly threatening competitor. In 1971, Trevino won 6 titles, including the U.S. Open and The Open Championship, outperforming Jack Nicklaus’s 5 wins that year. He even admitted to jokingly bribing Nicklaus’s wife, Barbara, to keep Jack home during tournaments.

He said that it helped him be the leading money winner on the Champions Tour in 1990. On the Champions Tour, both Trevino and Nicklaus debuted in 1990. Trevino played 28 events with 7 wins and 26 top-10 finishes. Nicklaus, on the other hand, played 5 events with 2 wins and all finishes in the top 3.

It’s not just the PGA Tour Champions, though. Trevino has a slightly better make cut rate than Nicklaus on the PGA Tour as well. Trevino won 29 PGA Tour titles, made 409 cuts out of 481 events, and had an 85 percent cut-making rate, narrowly better than Nicklaus. His career highlights include beating Nicklaus twice in major playoffs at the 1971 U.S. Open and the 1972 Open Championship.

Lee Trevino’s take adds another thoughtful layer to golf’s longest-running debate. It separates pure playing brilliance from complete mastery of the game. Whether judged by records or artistry, his words remind fans that greatness in golf can be defined in more than one way.