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Matsuyama vs Palmer

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
PalmerWinner
87.0

Palmer wins: Dominance, Longevity

Matsuyama
86.9

Matsuyama wins: Peak, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Golf

Shareable URL · /compare/hideki-matsuyama-vs-arnold-palmer

Time range

Showing full careers. Pick a window to recalculate the selected period.

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇺🇸 Arnold Palmer
87.0

Palmer leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. The King: seven majors and the man who made golf a television sport.

1. Arnold Palmer
87.0
2. Hideki Matsuyama
86.9

Category breakdown

Season form · Wins per season

Career timeline · Wins 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 · Wins per season
1. 🇺🇸 Arnold Palmer5 seasons played · career day 2,19011 wins
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇯🇵 Hideki Matsuyama5 seasons played · career day 1,8257 wins
-36.4% vs Palmer at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇯🇵 Matsuyama001278
🇺🇸 Palmer0001829

Careers are aligned at debut, so a rookie's first 5 seasons are measured against the same window in a legend's career — Yamal against Messi at the same age-stage, a tour rookie against Tiger Woods in 1996.

MetricMatsuyamaActivePalmerRetired
Major titles17
PGA Tour wins1162
Olympic medals1
Presidents Cup appearances6
Career-high world ranking2
Masters titles4
Open Championships2
Player of the Year2
Ryder Cup appearances6
Dominance w25%8485
Peak w20%9290
Longevity w20%8488
Honours w20%8686
Statistics w15%9086

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Palmer87.0
Matsuyama86.9
The people
Matsuyama
Palmer

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Make your case for Matsuyama vs Palmer. 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.

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