History suggests that there is no winning formula when it comes to height in golf, with Major winners and legends of the game ranging from small in stature to titans of the tour. This is also true for the women's professional game, with many of the tallest and shortest players on the LPGA Tour winning some of the biggest events on the calendar.
Nine-time major winner Gary Player stands at just 5ft 6, while 1969 Masters winner George Archer measures a lofty 6ft 5, creating an 11-inch gap between the two. In the modern game, we are seeing taller players with much more regularity, while there are also plenty of tour wins at the other end of the spectrum. In this article, we explore some of the tallest and shortest male golfers to currently play the game...
The Tallest Players In Men's Professional Golf
1. James Hart Du Preez – 6ft 10in/2.08m
James Hart Du Preez has got to be the tallest golfer on the professional circuit right now, standing at a gargantuan 6ft 10 inches. His best performances to date include a couple of runner-up finishes at the 2023 Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational and the 2019 Sibaya Challenge on the Sunshine Tour, but it is his stats that really highlight his potential. He has ranked in the top-three for driving distance average every year since 2019 on the Sunshine Tour, leading in 2021 with a driving distance average of 373 yards!
2. Jonathan Thomson – 6ft 9in/2.07m
Jonathan 'Jigger' Thomson certainly gives the South African a run for his money in the height stakes, at just one inch shorter. Thomson also has a runner-up finish to his name, after losing out to Matt Wallace in a play-off at the Made In Denmark event on the DP World Tour.
He ranked in the top-10 for driving distance average that year, and marked his Open Championship debut in 2021 by making a hole-in-one. His story is remarkable, having been diagnosed with leukaemia at seven years old, he continued to practice his golf until his recovery in 2012 and beyond to set-up a professional career in golf.
3. Chris Wood – 6ft 6in/1.98m
Bristol-born Chris Wood is a three-time DP World Tour winner and therefore arguably the most successful in terms of height to win ratio. At 6ft 6in, Wood had a chance to win The Open Championship in 2010, but fell just short when eventually losing out by one shot to Stewart Cink. That storyline may have been slightly overshadowed by the historic play-off with Tom Watson, but it highlights the talent that Wood clearly possessed early in his career.
A win at the 2016 BMW Championship catapulted him into the top-25 in the world rankings and earned him an automatic selection for the 2016 Ryder Cup, where he paired up with Justin Rose to defeat Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson.
4. Adrian Meronk – 6ft 6in/1.97m
Adrian Meronk is similar in stature to Wood, coming in at just one centimetre shorter. Meronk has been fantastic on the DP World Tour in the past few years, winning four times in the space of 16 months between June 2022 and October 2023. Meronk narrowly missed out on the 2023 Ryder Cup, after not being selected by captain Luke Donald despite his great form.
Meronk is widely expected to join LIV Golf in the near future, which would surely make him the tallest player to play on the Saudi-backed series.
The Shortest Players In Men's Professional Golf
1. Yuto Katsuragawa – 5ft 6in/1.67m
At a foot shorter than Adrian Meronk, Yuto Katsuragawa is one of the shortest professional golfers in the world. He recently teed it up on the PGA Tour, at the Sony Open in Hawaii, finishing T74. A winner in Japan, at the ISPS Handa Championship, Katsuragawa regularly hits the ball over 300 yards, making him longer than the PGA Tour average. He also had a T47 finish at the 150th Open Championship in 2022 and a 58th place finish at the 2023 US Open.
2. Zac Blair – 5ft 6in/1.68m
Marginally taller than Katsuragawa, Zac Blair currently plays his golf on the PGA Tour. Blair won the Ellie Mae Classic on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019, and was runner-up at the 2023 Travelers Championship.
Blair famously partnered with Tiger Woods when the 15-time Major Champion played one of the worst rounds in his history, shooting an 85 at the Memorial Tournament in 2015. The Utah-native ranked 190th on the PGA Tour for driving distance last season, averaging just over 281 yards.
3. Alejandro Tosti - 5ft 6in/1.68m
Matching Zac Blair for size, Argentinian Alejandro Tosti was recently promoted to the PGA Tour after an impressive season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Tosti won the Pinnacle Bank Championship Presented By AETNA, and secured a further four top-five finishes. He has a driving distance average of 302.1 yards so far this season, and 324.3 yards last season, so certainly knows how to bomb it off the tee.
Tosti mysteriously withdrew from a Korn Ferry Tour event in 2023 due to 'disciplinary matters'.
4. Brian Harman - 5ft 7in/1.7m
Plenty of players could have filled the final spot, with this being a very popular height on the professional tours, but I had to give it to a recent major winner... Brian Harman.
Harman is certainly the most successful on this list, with three PGA Tour wins and that famous major victory at the 2023 Open Championship. Harman is the current World No.9, largely due to his consistent form and ability to win big events. The Champion Golfer Of The Year has not missed a cut in his last 13 events, with five top-five finishes.
