Jones & Hagen are the toughest for me to rank given the difference between professional and amateur golf in that era. One must first accept that they were clearly the two best players of the 1920s. Although Hagen was 10 years older, Jones retired at age 28, meaning that Hagen was still in his prime during Jones’ reign of dominance.
Of Hagen’s 11 majors, 9 came in events where Jones was not in the field (5 PGA Championships which were not open to amateurs and 4 Open Championships in which Jones did not make the trip). Of Jones’ 13 majors, 6 came in the US and British amateurs where Hagen was obviously ineligible. Competing head to head in 11 US Opens from 1920 to 1930, Jones definitely had the edge. He had 4 wins and 4 seconds in those 11 tournaments & his worst finish was T-11. Hagen was no slouch with 7 top 10s, but no wins.
It must be pointed out that in Hagen’s heyday there were only 3 professional majors, as the Masters was first played in 1934, and Hagen was pretty much done as he only scored one individual PGA tour victory after the Masters was started. 11 major wins from only three tournaments is nearly as impressive as Tiger’s 15 wins from four tournaments.
How would the careers of Jones and Hagen have differed if they’d competed head to head more often in majors and other events that mattered as opposed to a succession of unsanctioned exhibition? That’s anyone’s guess.[size=78%] [/size]