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Seve vs Nelson

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GOAT verdictgoatrank.world
SeveWinner
82.4

Seve wins: Dominance, Peak, Honours

Nelson
80.8

Nelson wins: Longevity, Statistics

Candidates
Locked to Golf

Shareable URL · /compare/seve-vs-larry-nelson

Time range

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

Category radar

Verdict

Weighted GOAT score
🇪🇸 Seve Ballesteros
82.4

Seve leads in 3 of 5 weighted categories. Five majors and the player who made Europe win Ryder Cups.

1. Seve Ballesteros
82.4
2. Larry Nelson
80.8

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. 🇪🇸 Seve Ballesteros5 seasons played · career day 2,55623 wins
Setting the pace at this stage
2. 🇺🇸 Larry Nelson5 seasons played · career day 4,7476 wins
-73.9% vs Seve at the same stage
Ghost race · career day30100365100018253650
🇪🇸 Seve00001431
🇺🇸 Nelson000002

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.

MetricSeveRetiredNelsonRetired
Major titles53
European Tour wins50
Open Championships3
Masters titles2
Order of Merit titles6
Ryder Cup appearances8
PGA Tour wins10
Champions Tour wins19
Ryder Cup record wins9
Champions Tour majors5
Dominance w25%8074
Peak w20%8886
Longevity w20%8286
Honours w20%8278
Statistics w15%8082

Fan vote — data vs the people

GOAT Rank · the data
Seve82.4
Nelson80.8
The people
Seve
Nelson

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