The ‘Pymble Crusher’ versus the ‘Fremantle Flusher’.

No, this is not a throwback to 1970s wrestling with audacious nicknames and questionable costumes but a match-up of two unlikely combatants in our search for Australia’s Greatest Golfer.

Perhaps no other sport on the planet could pit two such contrasting athletes who have played in such different times and still deliver a fair comparison.

Despite starting as assistant to Tom Popplewell at Pymble Golf Club at 16 years of age Kel Nagle didn’t play his first tournament as a professional until 26 years of age. Minjee Lee is still two years shy of her 26th birthday yet already boasts seven professional wins and has risen to as high as No.2 in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings.

When Nagle had completed almost five years in the Army and pursued professional golf he was known for his length off the tee but not so much his control. An ill-fated trip to Britain in 1951 highlighted just how important harnessing his power would be to greater success, returning nine years later to claim the defining win of his career, the 1960 Open Championship.

Nagle went head-to-head with Arnold Palmer to triumph at St Andrews but he was by no means a one-win wonder.

A second major championship narrowly eluded him when he lost an 18-hole playoff to Gary Player at the 1965 US Open but over the course of his career he would be victorious in the national championships of Britain, Canada, France, New Zealand, Switzerland and the 1959 Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club.

If his place in Australian golf history wasn’t already secure Nagle also boasts the record as the most prolific winner of the Australian PGA Championship, his six victories coming at Royal Perth, Royal Sydney, Kooyonga, New South Wales, Riversdale and Metropolitan golf clubs, four in matchplay format and the last two in strokeplay.

Where Nagle had a delayed introduction to professional golf, Minjee Lee was mixing it with the best players in the world – and beating them – whilst still a teenager.

At just 14 years of age Lee won the WA Amateur Open and two years later established herself on the world amateur scene with victory at the 2012 US Girls Junior Championship, the only Australian to have won that title to date.

Lee was still a few months shy of her 18th birthday when she streeted the field by six shots to claim the 2014 Oates Vic Open and subsequently climbed to No.1 in the world amateur rankings, a position she would hole until turning professional in September 2014.

In the 11th start of her LPGA Tour rookie year in 2015 Lee broke through for her first win on the leading female tour and has missed just 13 cuts in 135 starts between 2015 and 2019.

The 24-year-old has added four further LPGA Tour titles to her resume but is still pushing for that first major championship, her best finish to date a tie for third at the 2017 ANA Inspiration.

Although her career already stacks up well against the best players Australia has ever produced, time is well and truly on her side to join the ranks of our major champions.

Kel Nagle
Career wins: 78
Major wins: 1 (1960 Open Championship)
Australasian Tour wins: 61
Australian Open: Won (1959)
Australian PGA: Won (1949, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1965, 1968)
Round 1 def. Roger Mackay
Round 2 def. Craig Parry

Minjee Lee
Career wins: 7
LPGA Tour wins: 5
ALPG Tour wins: 2
Women’s Australian Open: T3 (2017)
Australian Ladies Masters: 2nd (2014)
Round 1 def. Brett Ogle
Round 2 def. Bruce Crampton