Who is better, Vardon or Cotton?
Harry Vardon leads with a GOAT score of 88.6 against 88.4 for Henry Cotton — a gap of 0.2 points on GOAT Rank's weighted model.
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Vardon vs Cotton
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Quick answer
GOAT Rank currently ranks Harry Vardon above Henry Cotton: 88.6 vs 88.4. Harry Vardon leads on Dominance. Henry Cotton leads on Peak, Longevity.
How the GOAT Score is calculated →GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
VardonWinner
88.6Vardon wins: Dominance
Cotton
88.4Cotton wins: Peak, Longevity
Candidates
Locked to GolfShareable URL · /compare/harry-vardon-vs-henry-cotton
Time range
Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.
Category radar
Verdict
Weighted GOAT score
🇯🇪 Harry Vardon
88.6
Vardon leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories.
1. Harry Vardon
2. Henry Cotton
Category breakdown
Season form · Form index per season
Career timeline · Form index per season
Cumulative output season by season — the shape of each career against the other.
GOAT pace tracker
Career stage · GOAT pace
Through season 5 · Form index per season1. 🇬🇧 Henry Cotton5 seasons played · career day 3,2869 wins
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇯🇪 Harry Vardon5 seasons played · career day 2,9212 wins
-77.8% vs Cotton at the same stage
| Ghost race · career day | 30 | 100 | 365 | 1000 | 1825 | 3650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🇯🇪 Vardon | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 🇬🇧 Cotton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
Careers are aligned from debut; the first 5 season periods are measured against the same career window.
| Metric | VardonRetired | CottonRetired |
|---|---|---|
| Major titles | 7 | — |
| Open Championships | 6 | 3 |
| US Open titles | 1 | — |
| Career tournament wins | 62 | — |
| Open runner-up finishes | 4 | — |
| Professional wins | — | 30 |
| Ryder Cup appearances | — | 3 |
| Ryder Cup captaincies | — | 2 |
| Career span in years | — | 31 |
| Dominance w25% | 90 | 86 |
| Peak w20% | 92 | 94 |
| Longevity w20% | 86 | 88 |
| Honours w20% | 88 | 88 |
| Statistics w15% | 86 | 86 |
Fan vote — data vs the people
GOAT Rank · the data
Vardon88.6
Cotton88.4
FAQ
Where does Cotton beat Vardon?
Cotton scores higher on peak, longevity. Vardon leads on dominance.
How is the Vardon vs Cotton score calculated?
Both are scored on peak, dominance, honours, statistics, longevity within their sport. Vardon: 88.6, Cotton: 88.4.
What do you think?
0 commentsMake your case for Vardon vs Cotton. The scoring is published in full — if you can point at the pillar or the weight you disagree with, we read it. Read the methodology paper.