Michael Arkush

1 month ago | bookreporter.com | Michael Arkush

The easiest sports argument to start is to simply ask your friends to rank the greatest athletes of their favorite sport. It is a simple question to pose, and it can lead to long and heated discussions. Several years ago, some of our finest sportswriters took it upon themselves to put their rankings on paper in the form of books. In 2021, Joe Posnanski wrote THE BASEBALL 100, which ranked the top 100 baseball players and weighed in at 869 pages.

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Michael Arkush

Are you playing any pickleball these days? No. I haven't played since my injury, and I was told not to but maybe when I'm retired I'll try it again. I don't know yet. I'll see how my leg feels. What would be a successful week for your last time at Augusta? From a professional standpoint, if I could make the cut, that would be unbelievable, but it's very unlikely. I've gotten shorter [with his drives off the tee], and the injury didn't help.

1 month ago | golf.com | Michael Arkush

In my new book, The Golf 100, in which I ranked the top 100 golfers of all time, men and women, I ranked — spoiler alert! — Jack Nicklaus No. 1 over Tiger Woods. Yes, I know peak Tiger (2000 U.S. Open at Pebble, 2000 British Open at St. Andrews, etc.) was more dominant than peak Nicklaus, and if I were forced to bet on one over the other in an 18-hole match, I might very well pick Woods. But greatness is about a lot more than one match or bursts of dominance.

1 month ago | golf.com | Michael Arkush

Editor’s note: In the new book, The Golf 100, veteran golf writer Michael Arkush took on the daunting task of ranking the best golfers of all time from 100 to 1. In the excerpt below, which has been lightly edited from the original version for context and clarity, Arkush explains how and why Phil Mickelson landed 13th on his list.

1 month ago | golfdigest.com | Michael Arkush

I don’t recall when the idea first came to me. Only that it did. And that I would be obsessed about The Golf 100 until the day I was done, if not beyond. That’s how I am wired and I can’t do a thing about it. Believe me, in prior books (this is my 16th) I’ve tried as hard as possible to maintain some sense of balance, to have a life. To no avail. Frankly, it’s a miracle I didn’t call the printer once the book left the publishing house. Not yet, anyway.